In one day, his entire company was destroyed. Director Tonnie van den Boogaard (66) has tears in his eyes and a crack in his voice when he talks about the damage. 75 percent of his company, especially in logistics, burned to the ground. “I saw forty years of work go by. It’s all gone in one go.”
The fire started on Thursday night. The fire brigade spent more than 28 hours extinguishing the fire at the Vice Versa distribution center on Kanaalstraat in Oss. According to Van den Boogaard, 250 firefighters and 88 vehicles were deployed at peak.
It created an hour-long nightmare for the family. Son Koen talks about the tragic day: “My father and sister called me around six o’clock in the morning. I drove here immediately. The fire brigade was already busy. Things seemed to be ‘ going well, they thought the fire had gone out. But the euphoria turned when the fire flared up again.
“Your life’s work is what you see disappearing”
Ten freezers and a few cold stores went up in flames, as did thirty thousand suitcases. There was meat, vegetables and ice cream in the warehouse. The remains of the meat, like thousands of frikandels, lie on piles of garbage. Koen is glad there were no casualties. “Only material damage, but it’s your life’s work that you see disappear. “
But the family does not give up. Tonnie had already started working fewer hours and gave the business to his children. “I worked for about twenty hours. That has now increased to fifty or sixty hours. That feels good, but the motivation is not less. But we put our shoulders to the wheel to make something beautiful for the children again.”
It is not often that the fire brigade has so many firefighters fighting the fire. It’s even a record according to a spokesperson for the safety district. “It is related to a cold store/cold room with a low temperature of about -18 to -20 degrees Celsius. This caused the fire hoses to freeze, the rooms were slippery and our colleagues from the group were not – firefighter able to see anything.”
The large surface area of the building also made this fire possible. “The cold store was full of tall warehouse racks that were close to each other with a lot of material. So the situation was dangerous for our firefighters and it was not possible to extinguish the fire directly. ” According to the fire brigade, the construction of the cold store was specially designed to keep cold inside and allow very little air to enter. “This means that heat, smoke and combustibles cannot escape easily. ”
75 percent of the buildings were burned to the ground. All frozen and frozen foods stored there were burned. But not all trucks are affected so daily operations can continue. “Other cold stores are willing to help us and have provided space so we can serve our customers.” The building across the street, which remains intact, will temporarily house an office.
“It inspires me to rebuild this”
Tonnie is devastated. “But the feelings are gradually diminishing. Also because you are now busy with administrative matters, such as consulting with experts and cleaning up the mess. It will give me the impetus to re- construction.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Lightning or fire near the solar panels is clearly excluded. “It started at the top,” says Koen. “It’s like we’re in a movie. This is completely unreal. But we’ll get through this, together with our employees, many of whom have worked here for years.”
The fire brigade will continue to put out the fire on Monday. The case is then transferred to the owner and the insurance company.
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2024-05-06 17:16:50
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