The VolendamNew Year'sfire was a café fire in the Dutch town of Volendam in the 2000–2001 New Year's night. The fire began early on New Year's Day 2001 and caused the death of 14 young people. There were in all 241 people admitted to hospital, 200 of whom suffered serious burns.
Fire
The fire took place in a building where three cafés were located. On New Year's Eve the cafés were packed with more than 350 young people between 13 and 22 years of age when a short blaze happened in the café De Hemel which was located on the top floor after a sparkler hit Christmas decorations that hung from the ceiling. The temperature in the room reached 400 °C. There was great panic and the heat, lack of oxygen and people falling over each other made escaping extremely difficult. There also were bars in front of the windows and there were too few emergency exits, all of which contributed to the high number of injuries. The first report reached the Amsterdamambulance service CPA at 00:38 local time on 1 January. The first fire engine arrived at 00:46 CET. The Dutch Red Crossreported that the alarm was raised shortly after 00:30 local time and that it took 15 minutes for the first ambulances and medical teams to arrive. The Mayor Frank IJsselmuiden claimed that the crowd had panicked because all but one of the emergency exits were blocked.
Aftermath
The fire was investigated intensively by media and politicians. New rules were introduced for decorations in cafés, nightclubs and other venues. The owner and managers of the building were indicted for culpability. An inquiry showed the owner Jan Veerman had been negligent in providing escape routes as well as failing to inundate the Christmas decorations with a fire-resistant substance, and that there were too many people in the building at the time of the incident. The owner was convicted to a conditional prison sentence and community service. As a result of the inquiry the Mayor of Edam-Volendam Frank IJsselmuiden and the alderman Wim Visscher resigned their positions.
