Man (83) in critical condition after serious house fire: “He could no longer escape outside”

Lots of smoke in the house

When he noticed that no one was opening the door of the house, he raised the alarm. The fire brigade immediately rushed to the scene.

“We were able to quickly enter the house through a back door. There was a lot of smoke inside,” says Rob Nachtergaele, fire officer at the Pittem fire brigade.

A stove was burning in the home, but the fire started near a sofa. There may have been a problem there with an electrical appliance.

The public prosecutor’s office has appointed a fire expert to investigate the exact circumstances. “Due to the fire in the living room, the resident had no escape route outside,” says mayor Denis Fraeyman (CD&V), who immediately arrived on the scene to see where help could be provided from the municipality.

Unconscious

The 83-year-old widower was found on the top floor of his home, in his bedroom. He was unconscious and had suffered burns, possibly while looking for a passage. The man was carried out in a very critical condition.

The fire brigade placed a tent under which the man received first aid. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Ghent, in life-threatening condition.

It is unclear how long the victim had been in the fire. Local residents had seen him return home shortly before noon after visiting his daughter.

The man’s home suffered serious damage in the fire. The house is temporarily uninhabitable.