Brussels firefighter killed after escalator collapses during Rogier Square fire

A 49-year-old Brussels firefighter died early on Wednesday, 16 March 2022, after an escalator collapsed during a fire at the former Sheraton hotel on Rogier Square in central Brussels. Belgium’s Civil Security Directorate said the fire began at about 03:30 in a technical shaft while the building was undergoing renovation, and that the firefighter succumbed despite colleagues’ efforts to free him.

BX1 identified the victim as a member of the Brussels fire service and reported that crews encountered a difficult-to-reach blaze affecting the ground, first and second floors. The firefighter was trapped beneath the collapsed escalator and died at the scene, according to fire-service spokesperson Walter Derieuw. The Brussels fire service later named him as Sergeant-Major Jean-François Spelmans, who had served since 1999.

Smoke spread to the neighbouring Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre, prompting the evacuation of nearly 300 guests, BX1 reported. Four people were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation. Rogier metro station was also evacuated, while road and public-transport diversions disrupted one of the capital’s busiest junctions. Firefighters extinguished a late-morning flare-up and declared the fire fully out at about 13:00, according to Derieuw.

Initial findings subsequently pointed away from an explosion or deliberate act. BRUZZ and BX1, citing the Brussels public prosecutor, reported on 18 March 2022 that an electrical overheating event was the probable accidental cause. The prosecutor’s office opened an inquiry into the fire, while the Brussels labour auditor investigated the circumstances of the firefighter’s death.

A later technical review commissioned by the federal Civil Security Knowledge Centre examined the fire’s development and the escalator failure. The report found that the escalator collapsed without an observable warning and stressed the exceptional complexity of the building during renovation. It was designed as a learning review rather than an assessment of individual operational decisions.

This is not a current breaking event. The supplied framing referring to two explosions is not supported by the official account, BX1 or BRUZZ. Any renewed publication should therefore present the case as a dated, verified account of a fatal construction-site fire and the safety lessons that followed.