Major fire in Ter Aar, now under control

The major fire that raged since Friday evening in several business premises in Ter Aar, Zuid-Holland, was brought under control by the fire department. The smoke, for which an NL-Alert was previously sent, has also decreased. A so-called crash tender was used to fight the fire, a firefighting vehicle that is normally used at airports. So far, no one has been injured.

A spokesperson previously said that firefighters were hampered by the influx of people who came to watch the fire on Friday night. As a result, firefighting efforts did not go well initially.

Mayor Robbert-Jan van Duijn of Nieuwkoop, which includes Ter Aar, was present at the fire on Friday evening. He said he was horrified when he saw the fire. "From a safe distance, I could see with my own eyes how the emergency services were working flat out to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading. My sympathies go out to the affected business owners," he wrote on Twitter.

The fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. in a lumber yard in an industrial area on Hertog van Beijerenstraat. The fire then spread to other premises. Numerous explosions were heard during the fire. According to the Hollands Midden safety region, these came from gas cylinders. The fire department expects that it will take several days to extinguish the fire.

According to a spokesperson of the emergency services, the fire was not under control by midnight. "The fire can spread because the fire brigade cannot get very close due to the risk of explosion," the spokesperson told RTL Nieuws.

Photos were posted on social media of the black clouds that could be seen far beyond Ter Aar on Friday night, including in Noordwijk, Zoetermeer, Gouda, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. Photos were also shared of ash splinters falling some distance from Ter Aar, for example in Rijnsburg and on the beach of Katwijk. Sharp glass fragments also fell in the area, coming from solar panels on the roofs of business premises.