Dozens of homes in the Zuid-Holland town of 's-Gravenzande were damaged by a tornado on Thursday. Roof tiles were blown off, windows shattered and trees were blown over. The tornado lasted around 25 seconds, according to the Telegraaf.
fire department
Sep 13 '17 08:20
The former town hall of Wolvega, Friesland was destroyed in a fire on Tuesday night. The upper floor of the monumental building burnt out completely, and the ground floor sustained significant damage, NU.nl reports.
The building on Heerenveenseweg is listed as a national monument. The fire was first reported around 10:15 p.m. The Fryslân fire department responded with a lot of man power. By 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday, firefighters had the fire under control, though were still working on extinguishing it.
Sep 8 '17 16:50
A professional diver died after getting stuck while working on the sluice complex in the Rijn near Driel on Friday. His lifeless body was released after over an hour by lifting the sluice slightly, AD reports.
A fire department diving team freed the victim's body and brought it out of the water shortly after 1:00 p.m. Emergency workers tried to resuscitate the diver at the scene, but it was to no avail.
The Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate is investigating what happened.
Sep 4 '17 08:38
Amsterdam's fire brigade was again deployed to a recycling company in the Westelijk Havengebied on Monday morning, because the smouldering remains of a fire on Sunday went up in flames again, Het Parool reports.
The fire started in a 10 meter high mountain of waste at waste and recycling company Paro on Siciliëweg on Sunday. Paro employees tore the mountain apart with shovels, so that firefighters could get to the flames.
Sep 4 '17 08:18
A fire in a building on Bloemerstraat in Nijmegen on Sunday afternoon, left at least 13 student homes uninhabitable, according to the Gelderlander. No one was hurt in the fire.
The fire started in the ceiling of a home on the ground floor around 1:45 p.m. Firefighters had trouble extinguishing it, because the fire was largely between the floors and in the walls. Eventually some walls had to be knocked down so that firefighters could get to the flames, according to the newspaper. The fire was finally under control around 4:00 p.m.
Aug 30 '17 16:50
Fire department divers found a body while searching for a missing swimmer in a recreational lake in Overloon on Wednesday. As no one else is missing in the area, the authorities assume that the body belongs to the swimmer, though official identification is still in progress, AD reports.
According to the operator of recreational lake Schaartven, the swimmer is a Polish man. He disappeared under water while swimming with friends on Tuesday evening. He was last seen by a woman, who saw him struggling to keep his head above water.
Aug 29 '17 16:10
There are no indications that arson was involved in a massive fire that destroyed the Holland Casino in Groningen on Sunday, mayor Peter den Oudsten said on Tuesday. The police are therefore halting their investigation. RTL Nieuws reports.
Aug 29 '17 07:27
A man was shot dead while sitting on the terrace of XO Food & Lounge on Prins Hendrikkade in Rotterdam on Monday night, AD reports.
Around 10:20 p.m. a person walked up to the man, shot him and ran away, witnesses told the newspaper. Emergency services tried to resuscitate the victim, but it was to no avail. The man died at the scene.
The police closed the street for investigation and launched a manhunt for the gunman and possible accomplices. As far as is known, no arrests were made.
Aug 28 '17 08:37
The Holland Casino in Groningen was completely destroyed in a massive fire that was discovered around 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, and which firefighters finally managed to get under control around 3:30 p.m. No one was seriously injured, but millions of euros of damage was done, Dagblad van het Noorden reports.
Aug 21 '17 14:40
An Audi RS5 burnt out under suspicious circumstances in the Utrecht neighborhood of Lombok during the early hours of Monday morning. The car was stolen from Berlicum late in December 2016. The police believe arson was involved, NOS reports.
Aug 18 '17 11:10
A Tesla crashed through the wall of a home on 1e Brandenburgerweg in Bilthoven during a police chase early on Friday morning. The home's facade sustained a lot of damage. The fire department is investigating the home to assess the risk of collapse, AD reports.
There were four people in the electric car. According to the police, the driver ignored instructions to pull over and there was a short chase. How the accident happened is still unclear. The police are investigating.
Aug 15 '17 11:00
A body was found in a lake on Stadsblokkenweg in Arnhem on Tuesday morning. A passerby spotted the body near the John Frost bridge and notified the police, the Gelderlander reports.
The police and fire department responded to the scene around 7:00 a.m. An investigation is under way.
The identity of the victim was not announced.
According to the newspaper, the police searched the Bandijk in Arnhem on Friday for a 26-year-old man that went missing on Thursday night. He wasn't found.
Aug 11 '17 14:50
A body was found in a burning home on Neel Gijsenstraat in Rotterdam on Friday morning. The police are investigating the cause of the fire and how the person died, AD report.
The fire department responded to the home around 7:30 a.m. Fifteen minutes later the fire was under control. Firefighters found the deceased person while checking the home.
At this stage there is no reason to believe the person was killed in a crime, according to the police.
Aug 7 '17 08:46
The Juliana Church on Zaandijkstraat in Rotterdam was destroyed in a large fire on Sunday night. The fire department considers the building, located in the Heijplaat neighborhood, as lost. No one was injured, NOS report.
The wooden floors and roof beams meant that the fire spread very quickly. The fire department managed to get the fire under control during the early hours of Monday morning, but firefighters could not enter the building to continue extinguishing it due to the risk of collapse. The church's tower top collapsed in the fire.
Aug 3 '17 10:10
A woman was found dead in a burning house on Oslofjord in Delfzijl, Groningen on Thursday morning. The police believe she is the resident of the home. The cause of the fire is being investigated, RTL Nieuws reports.
A trauma helicopter was dispatched with the fire department because the authorities believed that someone was in the home, according to RTL. But the woman was already dead when firefighters found her. As far as is known, the woman died in the fire.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Aug 2 '17 10:30
The Gelderland village of Vaassen was woken by a massive explosion early on Wednesday morning. The explosion and subsequent fire completely destroyed the home on Kerkweg where it happened, RTL Nieuws reports.
Surprisingly, no one was injured. The three residents of the home managed to get out unharmed.
The explosion and fire happened around 3:30 a.m., according to Omroep Gelderland. By 5:00 a.m. firefighters had the fire under control. The explosion also damaged some surrounding homes, where windows did not survive the blast.
Aug 1 '17 13:20
The fire brigade is not discriminating by judging men and women equally in the firefighters' periodic condition test, the College for Human Rights ruled, NOS reports.
Aug 1 '17 07:45
Emergency services responded en masse to the Shell Pernis refinery in Rotterdam on Monday night after a leak of hydrofluoric acid was discovered. Less than 48 hours earlier, emergency services also responded to the refinery when a short circuit in a high voltage cable caused a fire, NU.nl reports.
A very low concentration of the hazardous substance leaked when flushing pipes, according to the local safety office. The leak was discovered around 10:15 p.m. By 00:30 a.m. the Shell staff managed to close the leak. The acid did not leak off the Shell premises.
Jul 28 '17 13:40
Firefighters found a critically injured man, with what seemed to be gunshot wounds, while extinguishing a fire in a home in Rotterdam on Friday morning, ANP reports.
The fire brigade responded to the house on Hooidrift after a fire broke out there on Friday morning. "During the extinguishing they encountered the victim, who did not seem to be unwell due to smoke. He was very hurt", a police spokesperson said to the news wire. "Our estimation is that he has a gunshot wound."
Jul 28 '17 08:05
Twenty thousand pigs were killed in a fire that broke out in a pig farm on Erichemsewal just outside the Gelderland town of Erichem on Thursday. Asbestos was released in a small area around the stable, according to local safety office Veiligheidsregio Gelderland-Zuid.
The fire, and the extinguishing thereof, was accompanied by a lot of smoke in a large area around the farm. Local residents were warned to keep their windows and doors closed. Guests at a campsite in Erichem were told to stay inside their caravans or go to the main building, NU.nl reports.
Jul 27 '17 08:26
Amsterdam fire department commander Leen Schaap is still struggling to change the culture within the corps, which still shows signs of discrimination, racism and bullying, Mayor Eberhard van der Laan and municipal secretary Arjan van Gils said in a letter to the city council, NU.nl reports.
Jul 25 '17 15:00
Dozens of Dutch tourists were evacuated from their holiday homes and campsites in southern France on Tuesday due to fierce forest fires in the area. The dry, hot weather and strong winds mean that the fires are spreading quickly, but the French fire department says it has the situation under reasonable control, the Telegraaf reports.
Jul 25 '17 14:20
The fire departments from Lochem and Barchem evacuated the FrieslandCampina buildings on Kanaalstraat in Lochem after an unexpected chemical reaction with nitric acid created an "orange cloud". The roads around the dairy factory are also closed while firefighters take measurements, the Gelderlander reports.
Jul 24 '17 16:10
Two men from Belgium are suspected of setting a large fire in the cave system on the border between Maastricht and the Belgian village of Kanne last week. The fire started on Thursday night and is still burning, RTL Nieuws reports.
On Saturday morning the fire department gave up on extinguishing the fire and are now just keeping it under control while it burns out. That can take weeks. Both Maastricht and Kanne are covered in smoke. "People must take a week or two of smoke and stench into account", a spokesperson for the fire department said to the broadcaster.
