Antwerp ( Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Last night, a fire started in a container in the Pelikaanstraat, Antwerp, forcing the temporary evacuation of a hostel involving a number of tourists. The Antwerp fire brigade received an alert about the small fire at approximately 1:20 AM.
It was put out quickly, but this caused the smoke to set off the fire alarm in the neighbouring hostel, thus forcing all occupants to vacate their rooms on the alarm. Marie De Clercq from Fire Zone Antwerp stated,
“That’s actually a good sign because it means the system is working,”
highlighting the effectiveness of safety protocols in place.
A fire in a container in the Antwerp alarmed the numerous guests in a hostel, and many tourists had to be evacuated. The fire was put out swiftly, and all the guests were readmitted after an hour – which was a testament to the evacuation drills. The container that was combusting was holding construction material that, in spite of being put out quickly, the smoke was a hazard to people in the vicinity.
About an hour after the emergency response teams arrived, the guests were let back into their rooms. De Clercq confirmed that all floors of the hostel were thoroughly checked to ensure safety, stating,
“We checked all the floors of the hostel anyway to make sure nothing else was going on, but everything turned out to be fine.”
Having quickly reacted to the emergency notification, both the fire brigade and hostel management averted probable consequences and guaranteed all the guests’ safety.
This is not the first fire-related emergency in Antwerp; the city has encountered a series of them in the past few months. For example, a very major fire at one of the Bpost sorting centres in January 2024 forced about 400 employees to vacate the area to prevent the spread of fire. Likewise, another hotel evacuation was carried out in June 2024 following the eruption of a fire in an underlying shop. These are recurrent events that clearly point to emerging issues of fire risks within congested areas within cities at large.
Fire safety protocols and recent trends
The recent fire that erupted in one of the containers in the developed nations further brings out the launching pad of enhanced fire safety measures within the sprawling urban structures. The industrial past and dense population are the main issues of Antwerp that require maximised safety to prevent accidents and injured people. Public facilities have complicated alarm systems, which are expected to provide occupants with early signals whenever there is an emergency. The fast action by local fire services can be regarded as a desire to preserve citizens’ lives in the event of emergencies.
Furthermore, Antwerp has been experiencing several fire events in recent years, and some of the major events were witnessed at the port area where hazardous materials are usually stored. For instance, a large chemical fire occurred last year, causing people to evacuate their homes with hazardous compounds affecting the nearby dwellers. They have caused a lot of concern in city administrators’ meetings, provoking issues of enhanced safety standards and calamity response mechanisms.
For this reason, the authorities are making improvements and modifications to the current security and safeguards in such places as hostels and other hotels. The emphasis is put on making the citizens, as well as the tourists, feel safe while in Antwerp city. This is why communication plays an important role in approaching and managing such hostiles and interruptions with different stakeholders, as has been evidenced by last night’s event.
