Due to one candle, two apartments were destroyed and several other premises were damaged — this is the situation faced by residents of Riga, in Kengarags, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3).
Soot and dark residue covered the entrance of one of the apartment buildings on Pelnu Street in Kengarags. The door of one apartment is still open — the mother of the homeowner came to inspect the aftermath of the fire and explained what caused the blaze.
The fire broke out in a first-floor apartment. Its resident fell asleep, leaving a burning candle nearby. After a while, the candle fell and ignited the carpet. Waking up, the man noticed the fire and tried to extinguish it, but suffered serious injuries.
As a result, two other residents of the building were injured, and all three were taken to the hospital. Most neighbors noticed the fire when the flames had already gained strength.
"Someone knocked on the door. As far as I understood, it was people from the third floor. When we opened the door — everything was already filled with smoke, and we couldn't get out. So we went back, closed the door, and stuffed the gaps with wet rags. And we waited for the firefighters to arrive. But the flames were so strong that from the other side it was very intense. At first, we went out onto the balcony to avoid breathing in the smoke. The apartment was completely filled with smoke," recalls Natalia.
However, they couldn't stay on the balcony for long — the heat from the neighboring apartment was unbearable, so the family moved to a room on the other side of the apartment. Natalia's dog also experienced severe stress.
"The dog is still afraid that I will go somewhere, she trembles. Probably, if it weren't for her, we would have run — possibly through the smoke. We might have been poisoned. And she didn't want to go out. We opened the door, but she didn't have a leash, she hid under the bed," Natalia said.
In total, rescuers evacuated 14 people from the building, including Alexander, who was in the building at the time the fire started.
"The glass even melted from the heat. My rubber door seal burned because the temperature was very high. The ambulance arrived, they immediately gave oxygen so I could breathe. Everything was professional. I would say — probably around six o'clock in the evening, plus or minus," the man clarified.
The fire was extinguished in about four hours, but people did not have to freeze outside the whole time. Natalia explains that those who had nowhere to go were offered shelter in a bus. "Our car was nearby, parked. We warmed up there the whole time," she says.
Now the residents of the building are facing a massive cleanup, and the owners of the damaged apartments are facing repairs. The fire destroyed two apartments and several loggias. After the incident, the building experienced problems with electricity and sewage.
Leave a comment