Fire engulfs historic Bergen op Zoom restaurant building, triggers hotel evacuation
A major fire broke out overnight in a historic restaurant building on the Grote Markt in the center of Bergen op Zoom, triggering a large-scale emergency response and the evacuation of hotel guests from an adjacent property, Omroep Brabant reports.
The fire started in the roof of the monumental building, which is currently vacant. The property previously housed Pubby’s Sportsbar.
Emergency services received the first report of the blaze at around 1:45 a.m. on Saturday. Fire crews responded in large numbers to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading to neighboring structures.
Firefighters tackled the fire from inside the building and from above using an aerial platform. “It was quite tense for a while,” Marieke van Wijk, spokesperson for the Veiligheidsregio Midden- en West-Brabant, told Omroep Brabant. “It was a fully developed fire, and a lot of smoke was released. Because it was a historic building, the fire department scaled up their response considerably. In these old properties, the attics are connected to each other. You have all kinds of partitions and staircases, so you have to be absolutely sure there are no hot spots left.”
The cause of the fire was still unknown Saturday night. “The first priority was to extinguish the flames,” Van Wijk said. “But an investigation into the cause will certainly follow.”
The fire also affected a hotel next door. “Very unfortunate,” Van Wijk told Omroep Brabant. “All guests from the sixteen rooms in that hotel had to leave due to possible smoke and soot damage. They were extremely well cared for by the staff of hotel De Draak, and everyone was accommodated elsewhere during the night.”
Because of the heavy smoke, the Veiligheidsregio advised residents to keep windows and doors closed and to switch off mechanical ventilation systems.
By around 4 a.m., the fire was declared under control. Firefighters began scaling down their operations but remained on site for an extended period to extinguish lingering embers.
