A flower box spreads fire to the roof: 80 people evacuated from a hotel in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert

Tuesday 13th June 2023 05:08 AM

80 customers of the Tangla hotel, near the Alma campus of UCL, were evacuated on the night of June 12 to 13, 2023 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. There were no injuries.

The alarm was given around 4:30 am in the avenue Emmanuel Mounier. The fire appears to have started in a flower box on a 4th floor terrace, after which flames licked the roof. “The fire spread to the insulation of the roof by the facade”, notes the spokesperson for the Brussels Fire Brigade Walter Derieuw. “We had to knock down part of the roof to put out the fire and prevent any resumption.”

The fire at the Tangla Hotel spread from a flower box to the roof. 80 people were evacuated. ©Brussels Fire Brigade

The 80 hotel guests were taken care of at the establishment’s restaurant. A medical plan was triggered, then quickly canceled.

If the cause of the fire is not known, it could well be linked to the strong heat that Brussels has been experiencing in recent weeks. “It could be a spontaneous combustion of the peat of the flower boxes”, point out the firefighters. “As a precaution, we therefore asked that the flower boxes on the terraces be removed.”