Long-standing disputes with one of the residents of the building on Ozolciema Street in Riga have escalated to a new level. In the stairwell, an acquaintance of the unfriendly neighbor set a fire, which affected those nearby. The residents are tired of the presence of outsiders in their home and hope that something will finally change in the building.
The sounds of sirens filled the vicinity of the apartment building on Ozolciema Street late at night, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3). Emergency service vehicles were stationed near several houses, so the residents did not immediately understand which neighbor was in trouble.
"The sirens were wailing so much that I thought — what is happening there? All the rescuers were there," said a witness.
The day after the fire, one of the stairwell windows and the entrance door were left open for ventilation in the building where the incident occurred. The most damage was caused on the eighth floor — the fire damaged the doors of two apartments, and soot left marks on the light walls.
The residents of the building began cleaning themselves to prevent the black soot from staining their clothes. The residents have a theory about why the fire started:
"There lives a drug addict. They set his doormat on fire. We didn’t know about it, and there was so much smoke that when we opened the door, everything was covered in soot, we can’t even wash it off. Our laundry, everything. It’s good that a neighbor cleaned the stairwell. It’s terrible!"
One of the residents on the eighth floor only learned about the commotion outside her apartment door when the rescuers knocked on her window:
"There are big problems. They broke my door, and I didn’t even hear it. I have poor hearing."
The residents hope that the management company will help resolve the situation. The Degpunktā program contacted the company "Namu eksperts," which only started servicing the building at the beginning of March. The company explained that people would not be left to live in an unclean environment.
"In the morning, I called the State Police to ask — can we clean or repair, is there any investigation going on. They couldn’t answer me right away, and now I’m waiting for a callback. When I get the green light that there are no further investigative actions, we will clean everything up and put it in order," said Andris, a representative of "Namu eksperts."
The problematic neighbor, whose door was the site of the fire, has been a concern for the residents for a long time. Strangers often gather in the building, making movement through the stairwell unpleasant.
"There were problems before. They smoked, drank every week. Strangers came, hung out right here in the stairwell," said a resident of the building.
To deal with the noisy neighbor, the residents have not yet attempted to involve law enforcement. The building manager reported that surveillance cameras are planned to be installed near the entrance soon to reduce the amount of disorder and make it easier to identify those engaging in vandalism.
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