Fire forces evacuation of Heemskerk apartment block; Locals warned neighbor needed help
Firefighters evacuated several floors of a Heemskerk apartment building due to a very large fire on the second floor during the early hours of Friday morning. Paramedics treated seven people for smoke inhalation. Residents told NH Nieuws that the fire was started by one of their neighbors, saying that they’ve warned the authorities that the woman needed help multiple times in the past.
The fire broke out in the building on Jan Ligthartstraat at around 2:30 a.m. The fire was extensive, and multiple fire brigade units responded ot the scene, a spokesperson for Veiligheidsregio Kennemerland told NH. Police cordoned off the area.
Firefighters evacuated a total of 61 residents. The blaze has since been extinguished, and most residents were able to return to their homes.
The police took one person with them for assistance. A police spokesperson stressed to NH that the person was not arrested. They were reportedly behaving erratically. Forensic investigators will investigate the apartment building later today.
A resident who lives diagonally above the apartment where the fire broke out was still with her son and his family on Friday morning. NH spoke with her daughter-in-law.
“The fire broke out in the resident’s living room; my mother-in-law’s bedroom is diagonally above. We received a call at 3:02 a.m. that she was outside,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told NH. “My mother-in-law is 81. She was standing in the cold street in her pajamas and slippers.”
According to the resident’s daughter-in-law, several residents of the building, many of whom are elderly, have been concerned about their neighbor’s behavior. Her mother-in-law has been experiencing significant problems with the upstairs neighbor for years.
“We’ve expressed our fears many times,” the daughter-in-law said. “I was literally at the mental health services yesterday because my mother-in-law woke up again to music. They were supposedly working on it and told me to keep reporting incidents. It’s a shame something serious had to happen first.”
The woman also caused a disturbance on Thursday, the daughter-in-law said. “Screaming, banging. Someone came by the other day, perhaps a caretaker, who was shocked by what he found in the house. But nothing was done,” she said. “Another resident has already attacked her, and everyone is at their wits’ end because they can’t sleep. It’s a difficult situation.”
