Over the weekend, rescuers were needed by residents of a three-story building near Saldus. A fire broke out in one of the apartments, and the smoke from the blaze was so thick that several people had to be evacuated from the building using rescue masks, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3).
Black, charred webs covering the ceiling of the stairwell barely stir, reminding residents of the recent events on the first floor, where a fire broke out in one of the apartments during the day.
The apartment owner emphasizes that more serious consequences were avoided only because she was home. She also briefly explained how the fire started:
“The TV caught fire, so it smelled like plastic. The TV was flat, but quite old. I immediately poured water on it, but I should have thrown a blanket. One room was burned. I didn’t watch TV, it probably caught fire from the outlet.”
The flames were first noticed by residents of the opposite building, who called the rescuers. The neighbors of the affected woman only realized something was on fire next door when they smelled an unpleasant odor in their apartments.
“There was a lot of smoke, nothing was visible,” says neighbor Kristaps.
“It was scary, I smelled burning. At first, I thought something was burning in our house. My husband opened the door — and smoke poured into the apartment. We went out onto the balcony, and the flames had already been extinguished, and then after a while, the firefighters brought out a child in a mask,” says neighbor Anija.
Neither in the burning apartment nor in the apartments above was there a smoke detector, which might have helped to realize that a fire had started more quickly. But what happened made them think about whether they should install such a device in their home.
“We don’t have a detector. There was a lot of smoke. We are now seriously considering that we need one,” says Anija.
In total, rescuers evacuated five people from the building using rescue masks. The fire was extinguished within an hour.
Leave a comment