Police have uncovered a drugs lab in an apartment complex in a commuter town near Amsterdam that had to be evacuated following a fire at the weekend.

Some 50 people, including 15 residents of a care facility, had to leave the complex of three tower blocks in Heemstede after the blaze broke out at around 1pm on Sunday. Two people were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation.

The care home residents were able to return later in the day, but residents of 20 flats had to spend the night elsewhere.

The local safety board described the fire, which was extinguished in 30 minutes, as “brief, but severe”. Police confirmed one of the apartments was being used as a drugs lab, but would not say what substances were being produced there.

“We strongly suspect that the fire started in the flat with the drugs lab,” a police spokesman told Nu.nl. It is not thought the blaze was started deliberately.

Images of two people who were seen in the vicinity of the fire were circulated by police via the citizens’ network Burgernet. Police said they were not suspected of starting the fire, but they may have suffered smoke inhalation.