Four people were injured in a fire at a tower block in the Brussels municipality of Ganshoren on Tuesday evening. Around 100 residents of the flats were evacuated and the municipal disaster coordination plan was activated.
The fire started at around 8:30pm in the block on the Vanoverbeeklaan in Ganshoren, a municipality in the northwest of Brussels. The fire spread via the stairwell on the exterior of the building and via balconies to the kitchens of several of the flats in the block.
Walter Derieuw of the Brussels Fire Service told VRT News that "At around 8:30pm we received several calls at our emergency dispatch centre. As soon as we arrived at the scene, we immediately scaled up our operation as the fire was raging from the ground floor up to the 14th floor. 7 fire engines and three ladder unites were deployed to get the fire under control”.
The whole building was evacuated. "A total of 100 residents were evacuated. Thankfully there were only 4 people that had to be taken to hospital with minor injuries. It was an impressive fire that reminded us of the tower block fire in London (Grenfell Tower), but fortunately there were far fewer casualties here”, Mr Derieuw told VRT News. The residents were taken to a reception facility provided by the municipality.
One resident told VRT News that "I saw the smoke and straight away I went to look in the corridor. There was even more smoke there, so I shut my door. I put a wet towel over my mouth and lay down on my balcony. They came and knocked at the door and the fire fighters got me down the stair. You shouldn’t lose your cool”.
What caused the fire is still unclear. Around 40 flats in the block were rendered uninhabitable by the blaze.
