On Friday, December 11, a car belonging to one of the residents caught fire near a high-rise building in the Kengarags district of Riga. The fire started from the front of the car, which likely indicates an electrical wiring failure. Eyewitnesses tried to help and minimize the damage to the vehicle, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3).
A Toyota caught fire right at the entrance of one of the residential buildings. Eyewitnesses noticed smoke billowing from under the hood and attempted to extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher. This may have helped buy time until the firefighters arrived, and the car did not burn completely.
An eyewitness who called the firefighters said:
"A car drove by, they saw the fire and asked if the firefighters had been called. I said I had already called. Then I sent everyone away — what if it explodes? They tried to extinguish it twice because only one side was burning. They put it out, we stepped aside, and it flared up again immediately. It was pointless to do anything. None of the residents even came out. I shouted whose car it was — no reaction."
In recent days, there have already been reports of several similar fires. For rescuers, this is an everyday reality: on average, almost two cars burn in Latvia every day. Last year, the State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) received 559 calls related to vehicle fires, of which 403 involved passenger cars.
According to statistics from previous years, the number of such calls remains roughly at the same level. The most common cause of fires is electrical wiring failure. Rescuers emphasize that every car must have a fire extinguisher, but often its volume is insufficient to effectively deal with the fire. It is also important to know how to use it correctly to avoid injury.
