Organisation - March 18, 2011

Rikilt evacuated after fire alarm

A fire alarm at about noon today made it necessary for about a hundred employees to be evacuated from the building in which Rikilt, the institute of food safety, is located. However, the fire department and the in-house emergency team had the situation quickly under control.

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According to several employees, it was not clear at the time of the evacuation where the fire alarm came from. It seemed that the fire began in the portacabins of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA) located behind the Rikilt building. A smoldering fire was spotted in the area used for grinding nuts.
Firemen were at the scene very quickly and managed to stop the smothering mass from turning into a fire, and thus limited the damage which could have resulted. Rikilt employees were allowed to return to their offices about fifteen minutes later. 
About a year ago, the Telegraaf newspaper carried a report that the premises of the VWA in Wageningen fell short of the requirements for a safe working environment. The VWA itself reported afterwards that all the problems had meanwhile been taken care of. The cause of the fire today is not yet known.
Rikilt employees were allowed to return to their offices.