Around noon on Wednesday, tall columns of smoke rose above the hangar in Rumbula. An auto repair shop covering more than 800 square meters was on fire there. Although employees tried to extinguish the flames, it spread too quickly, and the building was completely burned down, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3).
Explosions coming from the burning hangar filled the industrial area of Rumbula, clarifies TV3. Employees of nearby enterprises watched the neighbors' misfortune, as it was impossible to help here — they could only try to protect their own property to prevent the fire from spreading further: "We have a neighboring territory. We immediately moved the trailers because there was a risk that the wall could collapse."
Employees of nearby offices were among the first to notice the unusual smoke rising above the auto repair shop:
"Around noon, we saw that it started to smoke. At some point, everything above lifted. The roof actually swelled."
The area was filled with fire trucks. Rescuers reported that at the beginning of the fire, people on the scene tried to fight the flames themselves, but unsuccessfully. By the time they arrived at the address, everything was engulfed in smoke and fire, and even after several hours of work, the clouds of smoke did not subside.
"There are several auto repair shops in the building. According to the information we have, the fire started in one of the cars that was undergoing repairs, including welding. It was during the welding work that the car caught fire. The employees initially tried to extinguish the flames with the fire extinguishers available on site and simultaneously called the firefighters. However, the extinguishers were not enough to completely eliminate the fire, so it spread wider and led to such consequences. There are currently no injuries," noted the duty officer of the Riga Regional Fire and Rescue Service, Ainars Justs.
The main difficulty in this case was the lack of water sources on the territory. To refill the fire trucks and deliver water to the fire scene, rescuers had to cover about two kilometers to the nearest hydrant: "Six tank trucks and two aerial ladders were involved."
The flames were localized after about three hours of work, and the final extinguishing of the fire was completed in the evening.
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