Rotterdam Fire Boundary (Brandgrens)

May 14, 1940. A German bombardment lasting less than 15 minutes destroys the city center of Rotterdam. The Netherlands capitulates. The city will burn for days and the boundary of the devastated area will be given a unique Rotterdam name: the fire border.

In 2006, the Rotterdam city council decided on the definitive physical marking of the fire boundary in the street scene. It was completed in May 2010.

"The fire boundary" is a term that originated in the world of Rotterdam planners and urban planners in the late and post-war years. It is a unique and specific Rotterdam concept. On the plan map of the Basic Plan for the Reconstruction of the Inner City of Rotterdam by ir. C. van Traa from 1946, the term “FIRE LIMIT” is used for the first time in official documents and indicated with a modest dotted line.