Overheated oil pan leaves Brussels flat uninhabitable after kitchen fire

Updated 25 August 2026

An unattended pan of oil started a kitchen fire in a first-floor flat on Chaussée de Gand in Sint-Agatha-Berchem on Tuesday morning, leaving the apartment uninhabitable and sending one resident to hospital, according to the Brussels

Place

Brussels

City and regional setting for the fire and transport disruption.

Why it matters

City and regional setting for the fire and transport disruption.

About

The City of Brussels is the largest municipality and historical centre of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the Flemish Region, and Belgium. The City of Brussels is also the administrative centre of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions in its European Quarter.

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The emergency services received the call at about 10:10 for a fire in the three-storey building, Brussels Fire Brigade spokesperson Walter Derieuw told BX1 and reporting carried by Het Nieuwsblad. When crews arrived, the fire was burning in the kitchen of the first-floor apartment.

Nearly everyone had already left the building safely, Derieuw said. Firefighters found a woman still asleep in a second-floor apartment and woke her. Because smoke had entered her home, emergency workers took her to hospital in a state of shock. The available reports do not give an update on her condition or identify the occupants of the damaged flat.

After putting out the fire, crews ventilated the other apartments and checked them for carbon monoxide, according to BX1. Those homes were cleared for residents to return, but fire damage made the first-floor flat uninhabitable. The reports do not say where its occupants are staying or how long repairs will take.

The fire brigade classified the cause as accidental: a pan containing oil had been left heating until it became dangerously hot. Derieuw advised residents to use an electric fryer with an integrated thermostat, which controls the temperature, and to test smoke alarms regularly. Firefighters found alarms in the building, but the devices on the second floor were not working, he said.

Brussels Fire Brigade guidance recommends installing alarms in bedrooms, living rooms and spaces adjoining kitchens, testing them periodically and replacing each unit no later than ten years after manufacture. The service advises against placing ordinary smoke alarms inside kitchens because cooking can trigger false alerts; a heat detector is an alternative there.

The intervention also temporarily interrupted STIB tram services on lines 9 and 82, BX1 reported. No continuing disruption was reported in the available coverage. The immediate follow-up now concerns the hospitalised resident’s condition, accommodation for the occupants of the damaged flat and inspection or repair work before that home can be occupied again.