Two cars go up in flames at Large Schuurbrand: « Fire also switched to trees » (Dilsen-Stokkem)
In a barn in a forest on Kwavenstraat in Rotem (Dilsen-Stokkem), fire broke out around 11.30 pm on Thursday evening. Two cars that were in the shed went up in flames together with a quantity of wood storage.
Residents in the triangle of Kwavenstraat, Klaverstraat and Reselt in Rotem suddenly heard a lot of crackling outside on Wednesday evening. « When I went to look outside, I saw a sea of fire in a bush behind several houses, » says a neighbor. « The flames broke the darkness of the night high. We immediately called the emergency services. »
Brand Rotem – © RR
The East Limburg fire brigade came from the Maaseik location with several cars on site to extinguish. Because the barn was in a dark forest, behind several houses and far from the public road, the fire hoses had to be rolled out completely. The fire trucks could not park close to the burning barn. For that reason, several driveways next to houses in Kwavenstraat were used to station fire trucks. It soon became apparent that no people were present in the barn.
The flames flared up meters high. – © Mark Dreesen
« At first we could not see much in the dark forest, » says a spokesperson for the Maaseik fire station. “After using extra lamps, we saw that two cars had completely burned out. They went completely up in the flames. There were also a few barrels and many wooden planks in the shed.
The fire also spread to the tall trees around the barn. » The fire brigade outlined the situation on a large sign at a fire truck so that the firefighters could better orient themselves in the darkness.
The fire trucks had to stay on the street to extinguish the fire in the forest. – © Mark Dreesen
The area where the fire started is known in Rotem as’ at the chapel of ‘t Reselt’. Because the fire flared up behind the houses in a dark area, the local residents remained far away from the flames on their own initiative. Around 00.15 the fire brigade had the fire under control. They still had to take off for a long time. How the fire started is not yet clear.
