On Sunday evening, firefighters at the Bolderāja fire station rushed to assist workers at a neighboring facility. A tractor loader caught fire on the premises. During the fire, one of the parts exploded, and the flames spread to other machinery, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3).
Sunday evening at the Bolderāja fire station was calm. The neighboring woodworking factory was also operating as usual — smoke was coming from the chimneys, and heavy machinery was moving around the area. However, shortly after five o'clock, firefighters were drawn to black smoke in a place where it usually does not appear. Since it did not dissipate, the firefighters decided to go check on their neighbors to ensure everything was alright. Upon opening the depot gates, they immediately received a call — a fire had broken out at the factory.
"Upon the arrival of the first unit at the scene, it was established that a tractor loader was fully engulfed in flames over an area of 20 m². During the incident, several explosions occurred, resulting in one of the large tractor tires flying approximately 15 meters and landing on the elevator, where a fire also started over an area of 10 m²," said the commander of the Bolderāja post, Intars Miglāns.
The explosion of the tractor tire was heard even from a distance of 500 meters. This is what caught the attention of several residents of Bolderāja:
"About thirty to forty minutes ago, my girlfriend and I were walking and heard two explosions. Friends wrote that the factory was on fire. We came to see — there’s a loader on fire, it’s almost extinguished. We arrived just at the end."
Before the firefighters from Bolderāja arrived, the local fire brigade was dealing with the tractor fire. When additional forces arrived, four teams were extinguishing the fire. Thanks to the work of the rescuers, the high-risk fire was localized within an hour.
"Three 3B nozzles were working at the scene — one of them was used with foam for extinguishing fuel. Two groups were working in an environment unsuitable for breathing," explained the post commander.
Medical personnel also arrived at the scene. Fortunately, neither the rescuers nor the factory employees were injured. The fire was completely extinguished only after two and a half hours.
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