Bruges (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A fire at De Scheemaeker in Bruges (March 2025) spread asbestos. ASAP Nails & Beauty, outside the red zone, was still barred from opening. Sales manager Björn van Zundert disputes city rules. Lawsuits may follow.
ASAP Nails & Beauty, the cosmetics store near the fire, is angry with the city of Bruges. They think the town was too strict not to let customers come to their store on Sunday, March 23, 2025. The police and fire department said only the manager could go to the store because they thought it wasn’t important for customers to go.
The cosmetic store owner mentioned that the store wasn’t in the red zone, but they still had to follow the rules. The store thinks these rules were unfair. They have officially told the city they are unhappy with what happened. The store’s sales and marketing manager, Björn van Zundert, said they are talking to their insurance company and lawyer to see what they can do.
Will Bruges face lawsuits over business losses after the fire?
ASAP Nails & Beauty isn’t the only business thinking about suing the city. The sales manager said other stores are also thinking about suing because they lost money and had extra costs because of the rules.
According to the mayor of Bruges, he doesn’t know about other stores suing, but the city is getting a lawyer just in case. He mentioned that this whole thing shows how accidents can affect businesses and makes people wonder how to keep people safe without affecting businesses too much.
A big fire happened at the De Scheemaeker bicycle company in Bruges in March 2025. The fire released dangerous asbestos particles into the air. Emergency workers and special cleaning companies worked for over a week to clean up the area.
The city of Bruges made a red zone around the buildings that had the most asbestos. People who worked in the red zone couldn’t go back to work until a special lab checked the buildings and said they were safe. The businesses in the red zone had to close until the lab said it was safe. This caused a lot of problems for businesses and workers.
ASAP Nails & Beauty, a cosmetics store just a short distance from the fire. The wind blew the smoke and ash away from their building, so they weren’t in the red zone. But even though they were safe, they still had problems.
On Sunday, March 23, 2025, after the fire, the city said they couldn’t have customers even though they planned a special opening day. The city was being careful because they wanted to make sure there wasn’t any asbestos left in the air.
“At that time, there were no guarantees as to whether or not asbestos was present on the site of the cosmetics company, where party tents were located, among other things,”
says mayor Dirk De fauw (CD&V).
“The street was full of fire engines, and there was a water curtain to rinse off cars. In those circumstances, it is quite logical that an open day cannot take place.”
