Damage and sadness after a major fire in Ter Aar: ‘Never experienced anything like it’

NOS

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 15:13

Local residents and owners of buildings on the business park in Ter Aar, where a fire broke out yesterday, can hardly comprehend what happened. Clouds of smoke can still be seen due to the post-extinguishing, but it is becoming increasingly clear how much damage the fire has caused. “I’ve never experienced anything so intense.”

Peter van der Pijl lives near the business park. The plumes of smoke are clearly visible from his garden. “If the wind had been the other way yesterday, I think our house would no longer have been there. Such immense heat and flames were released,” he says to Omroep West.

The fire started around 9:30 p.m. last night in a plastics company and then spread to other companies. Fred van Hameren’s timber business also caught fire. He is busy cleaning up today and thinks that his company has suffered 10 million euros in damage.

At Marco van der Pijl’s beef wholesaler, the damage seems to be not too bad. “We do have some soot damage, but the trucks are still starting.” He was also able to remove a few trucks last night.

‘Biggest fire ever’

According to the fire brigade in Ter Aar, it is the largest fire they have ever fought. Ingrid de Roos, spokesperson for the Hollands Midden Security Region, also says that she has never experienced anything like this in 25 years. “Nothing compares to this.”

It is not yet clear how the fire started. “We are really still working on the after-extinguishing,” says De Roos. As far as is known, there are no casualties.

Extinguishing the fire could take days. A crane has been deployed to better reach the seat of the fire:

Huge fire at Ter Aar business park under control

According to mayor Robbert-Jan van Duijn of the municipality of Nieuwkoop, which includes Ter Aar, the impact of the fire in the village is major. “People are sad and feel incredibly powerless. They see it happening before their own eyes, but they can’t do anything. This will continue to rumble for a while.”

Many people came to the business park to watch the fire. This made the work of the fire brigade more difficult. “The vehicles could not get through the crowd of people,” says De Roos of the security region. “It was therefore very hectic in the beginning.”

Baton used against disaster tourists

Officers drew the baton a few times because it “became too obstructive” for the firefighters. A police spokesperson said that units of the riot police were present to support the fire brigade and to ensure that onlookers kept a safe distance. “We cordoned off. When people became intrusive, we had to intervene.”

Mayor Van Duijn calls it “incredible” and “sad” that it was so busy and that the use of the baton was necessary. “If you are asked to leave, you just have to leave. Not everyone did that,” says Van Duijn.

Several media reports that the influx of people caused the fire to spread to other companies, but according to the Hollands Midden Security Region, this could not have been prevented anyway because the fire was so large. “The fire spread very quickly.”

Smoke and broken glass

The authorities say that no “disturbing concentrations of substances” have been measured. They do warn that there may be fire residues in the area, which may have to be cleaned up with gloves.

Particles of glass may also have fallen from the air. According to the fire service, these come from solar panels that were hit by the fire. “These are not toxic, but they are sharp. You can carefully clean them up yourself,” the fire brigade reports.

Smoke may be released again today when extinguishing the fire, but according to spokesman De Roos, this will be much less than last night. People affected by the smoke are urged to keep windows and doors closed.

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