Fire in Amsterdam apartment building; Four residents rescued from balcony

The fire department rescued four people, including two children, from a balcony during a fire in an apartment building on Dr. H. Coniijnstraat in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning. No one got hurt, but paramedics did check seven people for smoke inhalation, the Amsterdam Fire Brigade said on Twitter. A cat did not survive the fire.

The fire was discovered around 3:40 a.m. The fire brigade responded in large numbers and announced at 4:30 a.m. that the blaze was under control. The fire started in an apartment on one of the top two floors of the ten-story building, a spokesperson for the fire department told Parool. Firefighters extinguished it quickly, but it was a fierce fire, he said.

The fire brigade rescued two adults and two children from the balcony of the burning flat. “They are extremely shaken,” a spokesperson for the brigade told NH Radio. “The whole family was checked in the ambulance. Luckily, they were okay.”

Firefighters evacuated many apartments in the building while extinguishing the blaze. The fire badly damaged the apartment. “There is a lot of damage due to fire, smoke, and the extinguishing,” the spokesperson told NH Radio. “The family cannot return home. Now we will look at how the damage can be repaired.” Residents of four other apartments also couldn’t return home due to smoke damage.

According to the fire department, an electric step scooter in the flat may have caused the fire. “Unfortunately, we see that things sometimes go wrong with electric bicycles or steps. How exactly this fire started, I dare not say yet,” the spokesperson told NH Radio.

According to Parool, the step was standing next to the meter box, which is why the fire spread rapidly through the home.