In the vicinity of Valmiera, a fire in a residential building claimed the life of a middle-aged man. Firefighters from several settlements in Vidzeme fought the blaze for nearly six hours. Local residents told the Degpunktā (TV3) team about the tragically chaotic night when neighbors jumped out of windows, an exploding television hindered the rescue of the deceased, and intoxicated residents tried to extinguish the fire themselves.
Firefighters in Vidzeme had to battle a devastating fire on Tuesday evening. A residential building in the village of Eri caught fire, turning the calm pre-New Year time into a distressing ordeal for all residents of the area.
"We decorated the Christmas tree with the kids and started watching cartoons. A friend ran in and said that the neighbor's house was on fire. The State Fire and Rescue Service arrived in about two minutes," said neighbor Janis.
The rescuers were called by residents of the neighboring house. They smelled smoke early in the evening — they tried to ignore the smell for a long time until it became impossible.
"He said that something was wrong. He could no longer exit through the door and jumped out of the window," said local resident Janis.
The couple who jumped out of the window were unharmed. Soon, surrounding residents rushed to help, and the firefighters did not take long to arrive. Volunteer firefighters from the villages of Evele and Renceni joined the state rescuers from Valmiera. The men worked together all night and only turned off the hoses at four in the morning. The fire left a fatality behind.
"The body of a man was found under the rubble. It has been established that this is a man born in 1970, another person was injured and taken to a medical facility," the police explained.
On the evening before the fire, there were four people in the house: the deceased man, his son, his wife, and a visiting friend. That evening, as on every evening, the group opened bottles of alcohol — one after another.
"They were drinking all the time. Everyone there was drunk and didn’t really understand anything," said local resident Samantha.
The deceased man was the grandfather of Samantha's daughter, and one of the guests was the father of the young woman. The representative of the older generation went to bed early during the gathering, while his wife, son, and friend continued to enjoy strong drinks. Very soon, the inebriated group noticed the smoke and for about half an hour, in a state of heavy intoxication, tried to handle the situation themselves.
Samantha suspects that during this time the homeowner, having fallen asleep, suffocated from the smoke: "They tried to extinguish it themselves, but at the moment when the man went into another room to carry out the victim, the television exploded and threw him outside."
After the explosion of the television, Samantha's father and the deceased homeowner's friend got outside unharmed. That night, Samantha had to take the neighbors who jumped out of the window to Valmiera, as their house also suffered from fire and water. Meanwhile, the wife of the deceased man is still recovering in the hospital from her injuries.
In the village, both the smoke from the fire and the chaos caused by the tragedy have dissipated, and local residents are discussing what could have caused the misfortune.
"This stove was never used. The deceased had another cast-iron stove that he used all the time," said Janis.
Samantha also believes that the stove might have caught fire. There were canisters with fuel and equipment there.
The State Police confirms that the cause of the fire was most likely an old and damaged stove that had not been used for a long time.
