After the fire in a shed of the firelighter factory Fire-Up in Oisterwijk, the fire brigade spent hours extinguishing the fire. At around half past eight in the morning, a fire broke out in the building at De Nedervonder. There are no casualties, but train traffic between Tilburg and Boxtel was stopped for several hours.
According to a spokesperson for the fire service, the shed can be considered lost.
A lot of smoke was released during the fire. Ash particles also fell in the vicinity. A total of four NL-Alerts were sent on Monday, people in the area were advised to keep windows and doors closed. According to the Safety Region, there were no ‘extra harmful substances’ in the soot particles. ‘However, there is of course no such thing as clean soot’, according to the Safety Region.
The owner of Fire-Up, Bogdan Costescu, reacted briefly to the fire on Monday: “It affects me enormously. We are putting our shoulders to the wheel as soon as possible. Priority one is extinguishing and the investigation now.”
Mayor Hans Janssen van Oisterwijk was also present on Monday: “We are starting an in-depth investigation. Depending on the results, this may have far-reaching consequences for the permit.”
Foam installation went off
In the night from Sunday to Monday, the foam installation in the shed had already gone off because there was supposed to be a fire. The fire brigade was then called out, but there was no fire at the time.
According to a spokesperson for the Safety Region, the fire brigade returned the next morning for a follow-up check. “Then they open things to check. Then there was a fire and it was immediately scaled up to a major fire.” Around nine o’clock it was scaled up to ‘very large fire’.
Around a quarter to eleven, the Security Region reported that more equipment had been deployed to bring the fire under control. “More vehicles, more men: we are deploying everything at the moment.” The flames were still shooting from the roof at the time.
Four fires in a short time
This is not the first time a fire has broken out at the factory. In June 2013, the Fire-Up building burned down completely. And in September 2019, four fires broke out in just a few days. Part of the building was about to collapse.
According to the then owner Kees van Opstal of Fire-Up, the fires were caused by a different composition of one of the raw materials of the firelighters. As a result, the temperature of the mixing tablets would rise, instead of falling.
It is not clear whether this is now the case. Since the fires, the company has taken several safety measures to prevent overheating in the cubes.
Great concern fire brigade
The fire brigade already expressed great concern about Fire-Up at the time. “This can no longer go on,” said officer on duty Sasbout Discount at the time. “The fear that this will eventually lead to a major fire is present with us.”
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