4 a.m. Thursday or thereabouts, a passing newspaper delivery person discovered the fire. He was doing his round in the Tarthorst neighbourhood when he saw a red glow rising up from the campus. It was accompanied by the smell of burning. This prompted him to raise the alarm. The Fire Service turned out with the Bennekom and Wageningen brigades. Such heavy deployment was necessary, said a spokesperson, because it was not immediately clear what exactly was burning on the campus. It soon turned out that the object in question was the vacant house Gryllus (Latin for field cricket). Once the Fire Service had checked there was no one inside, the house was allowed to burn down in a controlled manner. Of the three fire engines, two were soon able to return to the fire station. Arson is suspected. Gryllus has been vacant since the turn of the year. The last resident left on New Year’s Eve. For years, the house has served as a student residence. Now it must make way for a new build.
Gryllus House in better times