A strong fire broke out in Jūrmala on Monday evening, resulting in the death of a 60-year-old man.
Rescue workers explain that the call to 112 was likely made late, as by the time they arrived, the building was already fully engulfed in flames, reports the show Degpunktā (TV3).
Around 9:00 PM, a resident of Kemeri went for an evening walk with her dog — everything seemed calm and quiet in the house across the street at first glance.
However, less than half an hour later, while returning, the woman became a witness to a tragedy in the neighboring family:
"I saw smoke, but thought it was coming from the chimney. I got closer and realized it was too much... There was too much smoke for it to be from the chimney. I started running and saw that the fire was in all the windows of the neighbors' house."
One of the residents of the burning house managed to run outside and, as a neighbor recounted, was so desperate that she couldn’t even scream. The neighbor immediately called the rescue services and explained that elderly people lived in the house with their son.
"She said: the son is sleeping at home," recalls the witness the pensioner's words.
Firefighters arrived from different sides of Jūrmala. Upon arrival, they had to battle the fire, which had been left unattended for too long. The commander of the State Fire and Rescue Service post in Bulduri, Lauris Žerdinš, noted that the call was received late, and by the time the firefighters arrived, the roof was fully ablaze.
In the fire, the 60-year-old son of the elderly woman perished. She herself was taken to the hospital with injuries. Local residents describe the family in their own way.
"A very decent woman, hardworking. The son was a bit of a troublemaker," says local resident Agris.
"The grandparents were good people. They didn’t drink or smoke. The son liked to drink. I immediately thought that he might have fallen asleep with a cigarette in the room," says the neighbor.
Her version of the cause of the fire coincides with the police's version — it is most likely that the fire started due to an unextinguished cigarette butt.
