No one died or was injured in fires over the past day, but several fires were registered, resulting in a total of 50 people evacuating from residential buildings, the State Fire and Rescue Service (GPRS) reported to the LETA agency.
Yesterday at 16:46, the State Fire and Rescue Service (GPRS) received a call to Eduards Smilgis Street in Riga, where a windowsill and household items were burning in an apartment on the second floor of a four-story residential building, covering an area of one square meter. Five people evacuated from the smoke-filled apartment before the rescuers arrived. The work at the scene was completed by 17:55.
The first call related to the New Year celebrations was received at 19:02 — in the municipality of Olaine, a firecracker was burning under a passenger car on an area of 0.01 m². The fire was extinguished before the GPRS arrived.
At 22:59, a call came in from the Marupe municipality, where a Christmas tree was burning on an area of 0.02 m². The fire was also extinguished before the rescuers arrived.
At 00:15, the GPRS was called to Jaunā Street in Liepaja, where the roof and inter-floor ceilings of a three-story residential building were burning over an area of 40 m². Eighteen people evacuated from the building. The work was completed by 03:08.
At 00:47, a call came in from Aizkraukle — in an apartment on the first floor of a five-story building, a table was burning over an area of two square meters. One person evacuated before the rescuers arrived. The work at the scene was completed by 01:28.
At 02:34, the GPRS was called to Stirnu Street in Riga, where household items were burning in an apartment on the first floor of a five-story building, covering an area of 10 m². Two residents evacuated before the rescuers arrived, and four more people from a neighboring apartment were evacuated by firefighters. The fire was extinguished at 03:43.
At 02:39, a call came in from Salnas Street in Riga — in a utility room on the first floor of a nine-story building, a wall and household items were burning over an area of five square meters. Twenty people evacuated from the building before the GPRS arrived. The fire was extinguished at 03:15.
As in previous New Year's Eves, there were about 20 calls related to the burning of garbage, bins, and firework boxes. According to the GPRS, the cause of most of these was likely discarded pyrotechnics, sparklers, or cigarette butts.
There were also calls regarding burning Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths with unattended candles, and incidents where firecrackers landed under cars or on the balconies of apartment buildings, causing items there to catch fire.
In total, over the day, the GPRS received 82 calls: 46 for fire extinguishing, 24 for rescue operations, and 13 were false alarms.
