The fire started in the work area of the central warehouse where fireworks were stored, just before three in the afternoon.
The fire spread to two seacontainers full of fireworks that had been placed illegally outside of the building. Firemen arrived and installed themselves at three locations around the depot. As they could not contain the fire initially, it was able to spread to a third
container, which exploded shortly afterwards, the first big explosion. At this point, all firemen and whoever else was present tried to run away.
A chain reaction of smaller explosions and fires eventually led to the explosion of the whole depot, about forty minutes after the fire had begun.
After the explosions a fire spread across the area, which was at one point a fire storm.
The final explosion caused a ball of fire with a diameter of over a hundred meters.
Rubble was blown far across the area, a man on a moped is hit and killed by a piece of concrete 580 meters away from the depot.
Due to the disaster the Dutch voting in the Eurovision Song Contest was suspended.
This was partly to free up phone lines for the emergency services, and partly as a mark of respect.
