Enschede fireworks disaster

The Enschede fireworks disaster (known in the Netherlands as the Vuurwerkramp meaning "fireworks disaster") was a catastrophic fireworks explosion occurring at the SE Fireworks depot on 13 May 2000 at 13.00 GMT, in the eastern Dutch city of Enschede.

The fire led to an enormous explosion which killed 22 people including four firefighters, and injured 947. A total of 400 homes were destroyed and 1500 buildings damaged. The first explosion had a strength in the order of 800 kg TNT equivalence, while the strength of the final explosion was within the range of 4000–5000 kg TNT. The biggest blast was felt up to 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the scene. Fire crews were called in from across the border in Germany to help battle the blaze; it was brought under control by the end of the day.

SE Fireworks was a major importer of fireworks from China and supplier to pop concerts and major festive events in the Netherlands. Prior to the disaster it had a good safety record and met all safety audits.

Dutch Television interrupted transmission of the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 midway through the programme to show breaking news coverage. Dutch telephone voting in the contest was also suspended to free up capacity for the emergency services communications.

A 40-hectare (100 acres, or 0.4 square kilometre) area around the warehouse was destroyed by the blast. Enschede was built around the SE Fireworks factory, which is the only one in the Netherlands to be located in a residential area. This caused around 400 houses to be destroyed, 15 streets incinerated and a total of 1,500 homes damaged, leaving 1,250 people homeless, essentially obliterating the neighbourhood of Roombeek. Ten thousand residents were evacuated, and damages eventually exceeded 1 billion guilders (€454 million).

The Dutch Government has warned that potentially harmful asbestos has been released into the air by the explosion. The fire spread to the nearby Grolsch Beer brewery which had an asbestos roof. It was later demolished and closed; a replacement opened close by in Boekelo in 2004.

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Wikipedia