Three people died in a fire in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht in the early hours of Friday, the Brussels fire brigade confirmed. Two other residents were rescued.
The fire broke out at around 01:00 on Friday in a three-storey building with a shop on the ground floor and apartments above, on rue de Fiennes in Anderlecht. When the fire brigade, paramedics and local police arrived, huge smoke could be seen and the fire was raging in the stairwell.
"Two residents, one on the third floor and the other on the roof, were able to be evacuated using our ladders, our rescue tool of choice," Brussels' fire brigade spokesperson Walter Derieuw said.
A passer-by who had alerted the residents and helped them to leave the building suffered burns to his hands. He was taken to hospital.
The stairwell was completely engulfed in flames. Credit: Brussels Fire Brigade
Escaping via stairwell
Search operations then led to the discovery of three bodies. "Two victims were found on the landing of the first floor and a third near the entrance to a flat on the third floor."
Derieuw noted that they had obviously tried to escape the blaze via the stairwell, which was "completely engulfed in smoke and flames". While the fire was being extinguished, part of the stairwell collapsed. Meanwhile, in the apartments themselves, there were smoke and soot deposits, but virtually no damage from the flames.
Derieuw did not speculate about the circumstances of the blaze but stressed the importance of avoiding trying to escape a home via a stairwell filled with smoke and flames.
"Stay at home, close the door (to prevent the smoke from entering the dwelling) and signal your presence to the emergency services via the window, possibly using the light on your smartphone, or by phoning the emergency number 112," he said.
Credit: Brussels Fire Brigade
A total of seven people have now died in a house fire in Brussels this year, Derieuw confirmed to The Brussels Times.
The fire also caused a gas leak, so the Brussels electricity and natural gas distribution network operator, Sibelga, went to the site to turn off the gas supply. This required opening up the pavement in front of the building. The electricity supply was also cut off.
The cause of the fire remains unknown but an expert from the Public Prosecutor's Office and a law doctor (doctor specialising in forensic medicine) have already visited the scene. Vehicles of the fire brigade left the site at around 06:00.
