Arson suspected in ice cream factory fire; homes evacuated

A fire in an ice cream factory in Hengelo led to two apartment buildings being evacuated during the early hours of Wednesday morning. There is a serious suspicion that arson was involved, one employee of the factory said to newspaper Tubantia. The fire broke out just after midnight and it took firefighters about 4 hours to get it under control. Two nearby apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution. The residents were given shelter at a nearby school. They were allowed back home around 4:00 a.m., according to local broadcaster Radio Hengelo TV. The fire completely destroyed the ice cream factory, which was recently renamed from Van der Poel to De Dessert Meesters. But firefighters managed to keep the fire spreading to adjacent buildings. The employee told Tubantia that pallets were stacked next to the factory. According to him, there are suspicions that the fire was ignited there.