Students living at the Sugar Homes are worried after a container fully burned down within minutes last week. They don’t feel same and some students don’t dare to go back again.
When entering Andi’s room, a smell of burnt and strong disinfectant hits you in the face. ‘I’ve been scrubbing everything with a vinegar solution to get it out’, the UG student says.
Her room is just two floors above the one that caught fire last Tuesday night in Complex C of the Sugar Homes, presumably from a short-circuit. Andi was sleeping when she was awakened by people knocking on her door and the smoke alarm going off. ‘I thought it was a false alarm’, she says. ‘But then I saw thick black smoke out the window’. That’s when she got out, holding her breath.
Afraid to go back
‘My room didn’t burn, but it got covered in soot. When I got back, everything I touched was black’, she says. Her front door and balcony were also blackened by the flames. ‘The two rooms below me burnt completely’, she says pointing out her balcony, where one can see ashes and burnt fragments of furniture from the studio underneath.
Besides the scent, Andi’s room is now clean. But she hasn’t slept in it since the fire and she’s not ready to go back. ‘I’m afraid it could happen again’, she admits. ‘It’s not safe. If the wiring had such a random short-circuit, how do we know it won’t do that again?’
No fire extinguishers
Other students living there voice the same fears. ‘Of course I’m worried. Because the fire didn’t happen out of negligence’, another student says. ‘And there are no fire extinguishers on the floors. It just doesn’t feel safe’, he adds.
The lack of fire extinguishers stresses Andi out, too. ‘We asked about it by email, but they said it’s the responsibility of the tenant to have one’, she says angrily. To her, the communication with Sugar Homes administration is disappointing. ‘It just feels like they don’t care’, she says.
Tense situation
A human geography student agrees. ‘The situation is quite tense’, he claims. ‘We asked them about electrical checks in the other complexes too, but they said they had done it a month ago and it’s safe. That was before the fire though’, he adds.
An electrical check of complex C was carried out by the municipality, another student claims. ‘But we got no proof of it, no electrical report or document’, he explains. ‘That gives me mixed feelings. I’m kind of worried, because there’s no way to check for us’.
Electricity approved
The safety concerns about the containers have been ongoing for years. Student Housing, which owns the containers, could not be reached for comment. Groningse Panden is the current managing company. Its director, Marcel van de Lyke, previously told Sikkom that they worked hard on fire safety and that the electricity in the complex had been approved. According to Van de Lyke, the containers meet all safety requirements.
Groningen politicians were shocked by the fire. Niels Hilboesen with the Stadspartij wants to submit written questions to the municipal board about the students’ safety concerns, says Sikkom. The municipality says the Sugar Homes residents are personally responsible for installing fire extinguishers.