A fire broke out on the roof of a Walloon castle in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, raging through the centuries-old property which is currently undergoing massive renovations.
Firefighters worked for hours into the night to attempt to quench the flames as they engulfed the Château de Dongelberg, located in the city of Jodoigne, some 50 kilometres east of Brussels.
Residents spotted the flames as the fire broke out in the roof of the castle at around 8:00 PM, with one eye witness telling RTL Info that he rushed to call the fire department when he noticed that "the whole sky was red."
"We were working right across the street and when we turned around we saw that the whole sky was red and that the castle, just across the street, was on fire," the man, identified as Olivier, told the outlet.
Olivier said that the fire spread throughout the property quickly, since "everything was dried up inside," due to the ongoing renovations works.
Residents of the city took to Facebook and Twitter to share pictures and videos as the flames raged through the property.
At around midnight the firemen were still trying to contain the flames, which they didn't manage to quench until around 2:30 AM, according to Le Soir.
Dating back to the XIV century, the current renovations were the first ones carried out in the property since 1860, La Libre reports.
"The castle has been there for a long time, we saw it there always unchanged and now, just as it was being renovated, it's been reduced to ashes," Olivier said.
No injuries were reported as a result of the fire, but the property was extensively damaged by the flames. An assessment will be carried out to determine the circumstances leading to the fire.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
