Litter volunteer's cart catches fire in Turnhout underground garage; 2 residents hospitalized

Two residents of an apartment building in Turnhout, Belgium, were taken to the hospital after inhaling excessive smoke from a fire in the building's underground parking garage. The incident occurred late last night in the Eigenaarsstraat.

The alarm was raised by a third-floor resident who detected a burning smell and smoke in her apartment around 11 p.m. Responding firefighters quickly determined the source was not within an apartment but in the underground garage. There, a garbage cart used by a volunteer who cleans up litter had caught fire for reasons yet unknown.

The fire produced a significant amount of smoke, which spread not only through the garage but also into the building's stairwell. One of the hospitalized residents had attempted to extinguish the fire with a powder extinguisher before the fire department arrived, but in doing so, was overcome by the smoke. The extinguisher left a white powder residue on several cars parked in the garage.

While the fire itself was largely contained, with damage limited to a blackened wall and ceiling in the garage, the smoke posed the primary risk. Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control, preventing further escalation.