Arson, attempted suicide behind Oosterhout apartment block fire: neighbor

A woman was arrested on Thursday afternoon for setting a fire in her apartment on Vrijheidstraat in Oosterhout. Early on Friday morning the fire flared up again to the extent that the building had to be evacuated. According to a neighbor, the woman wanted to commit suicide.

"She called me and said that she set fire to the place and that I should call [emergency number] 112", the neighbor said to Omroep Brabant. The police and fire department responded. The woman was arrested, the fire was extinguished. "And we thought that everything was safe", the man said.

During the early hours of Friday morning he woke up due to a strange smell. The light looked orange and when he went to his balcony to see what was going on, flames were coming from the woman's window. Why the fire broke out again is unclear. But it destroyed the apartment and damaged at least thee others. 

According to the neighbor, the woman and her husband have been causing trouble in the building for years. "There were regular shouting matches. The man walked out, stressed, and is now in a shelter." Another neighbor, an 83-year-old woman, regularly came to him during the fights. "Then she told me that she was so scared of the shouting. I then went to ask if they wanted to keep it down." And he was thanked with a complaint.

All the building's residents are still shaken up by the fire. "But I'm also angry, very angry. Something should have happened a lot sooner. This was a time bomb", the neighbor said to Omroep Brabant. "We always thought that they would do something to each other. Fortunately there were no serious accidents."

Veel schade na de brand in Oosterhout. Een verwarde vrouw stak haar appartement in brand. Was geblust maar ontstond toch grotere brand. pic.twitter.com/u5V8Xy3BfS

— Jos Verkuijlen (@JosVerkuijlen) July 7, 2017