[ Philip Jamison forwarded a short article about a fire at a
 [ warehouse in Netherlands that stores street organs.  The story
 [ was reported by RTV Rijnmond, serving the Rotterdam region.
 [ Philip said the story and an interesting video clip are at
 [ http://www.radiorijnmond.nl/index.html?pid=4&item=10580
 [ "Slecht nieuws dinsdagochtend voor de familie Roos".
 [ I asked Hans van Oost if he could provide more details.
 [ -- Robbie

Dear Robbie,  The Dutch text about the fire in the
warehouse can be found on our KDV web site, Dutch version,
at http://www.draaiorgel.org/nederlands/nl_new.htm

I have added some facts in the message which you sent to me,
for inclusion in MMD.

 - - -

The day before yesterday, early in the morning (Tuesday, January 14th)
there was a fire in the street organ warehouse of Wim Roos and Peter
de Groot in the centre of Rotterdam, Netherlands.

A police patrol discovered the fire and warned the fire brigade,
which arrived within five minutes.  Despite the early intervention
they could not prevent serious damage to the organs inside.

One of the organs (Geertruida) was destroyed beyond repair, the other
two (Fabiola and Mercurius) were badly damaged by fire, water, soot
and smoke.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation; arson
seems to be a possibility but it is too early to speculate about that.

The organs were not insured, so the owners are facing a huge loss.
Tens of organ enthusiasts, including Wim Snoerwang, president of the
KDV, visited the victimized families for moral support.  Local and
national TV stations released pictures about the disaster.

 - - -

Hans van Oost
Kring van Draaiorgelvrienden, Netherlands
http://www.draaiorgel.org/