Major fire in Amsterdam erupted near along Felyx shared scooters, cargo van
The major fire on the Nieuwe Hemweg in an industrial area in western Amsterdam was sparked at a facility where electric scooters from the Felyx vehicle sharing service were lined up alongside a cargo vine, photos obtained by local broadcaster AT5 showed. The blaze broke out just after 3 p.m., spreading rapidly and sending thick black smoke over the city, which were even visible from Rotterdam and Utrecht.
There were no injuries reported more than three hours after the fire broke out. The immediate surrounding buildings were evacuated, and those in other buildings on the industrial site were asked to remain inside so firefighters could continue to do their job unabated.
Despite their efforts, incident commanders made the call to let the building next to the scooters burn down in a controlled manner once it was engulfed in flames. Waves of smoke blanketed many areas of the city as the fire quickly intensified.
The smoke was so extensive that authorities issued an NL‑Alert, warning residents in a 40-square kilometer area to keep windows and doors closed and to switch off ventilation units as a precaution. By 5:40 p.m. on Friday, the Amsterdam-Amstelland emergency services office stated that the fire was nearly extinguished, and the smoke was dissipating.
The first report of the fire was made at around 3:05 p.m. from Nieuwe Hemweg in Amsterdam‑Westpoort, in an industrial zone close to Station Sloterdijk. An investigation into the cause of the fire will determine if the stored electric scooters were to blame, and if the vehicles’ lithium batteries played a role in the speed and intensity of the blaze.
Firefighters quickly escalated the alarm to a major fire, with a focus on preventing the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. They declared a Grip 1 regional emergency, which activates additional personnel from around the area, and calls for all those responding to the alarm to organize under a single incident commander.
Felyx launched its shared scooter service in Amsterdam in 2017. The company then lost out on a bid for a license to operate at the start of 2024.
