Two women killed in separate overnight apartment fires in Utrecht and Leidschendam

A 62-year-old woman was found dead early Monday morning after a blaze tore through her home on Javastraat in Utrecht’s Lombok neighborhood, and a woman in her middle years died overnight following a fire in an apartment on Gravin Juliana van Stolberglaan in Leidschendam, AD and RTV Utrecht reported.

In Utrecht, firefighters responded to reports of smoke billowing from the front door at about 6:30 a.m. They extinguished the flames and entered the residence to find the 62-year-old occupant unresponsive.

“We transferred her to the ambulance, but medical assistance could not save her,” said a spokesperson for the Utrecht Safety Region. Surrounding homes sustained minimal damage and residents were allowed to return once the scene was secured and the house ventilated.

In Leidschendam, police and fire units arrived around 2:25 a.m. to a third-floor apartment engulfed in heavy smoke. Crews used ladders and multiple fire engines to reach the flames, which took over 90 minutes to fully control. The victim was rescued alive but succumbed to her injuries after prolonged treatment in the ambulance, a fire department official confirmed. Housing corporation Vidomes plans to seal and ventilate the apartment, a process expected to take months.

The Utrecht and South Holland police forces are both conducting inquiries into the causes of the fires, with forensic teams combing the scenes. “We are treating both incidents as possibly accidental but are keeping all lines of investigation open,” a police spokesperson said. In neither case was evidence of forced entry or criminal intent immediately apparent.

Neighbors in Lombok expressed shock that a routine morning could turn fatal. “I smelled smoke but thought it was cooking,” one resident, who returned home after the all-clear, told RTV Utrecht.

In Leidschendam, a neighbor living directly below the burned unit recounted sleeping elsewhere after hearing alarms. “It’s terrifying to think it could happen right above you,” she told AD.