A black column of smoke rose on the shore of Lake Juglas on Wednesday, and flames soared several meters high. This was accompanied by an explosion that sounded from the side of the water.
At the scene, witnesses established that the reeds were possibly set on fire by children, reports the show Degpunktā (TV3).
Tom and his friends went for an evening walk along the railway tracks located near Lake Juglas. Shortly after eight in the evening, they witnessed a large fire in the reeds that had broken out right by the water.
"There was an explosion. (...) Black smoke, a huge flame leaped across the highway. We ran over, looked — it was already starting to burn. On our way there, we called the firefighters. (...) There was some cyclist who showed the police a video that half an hour or 40 minutes before, there were teenagers or other people in a state of intoxication lying there," Tom said.
In his opinion, the arsonists were neither fishermen nor vacationers, who are usually seen on the shore of the lake. Suspicion fell on several children around ten years old, who were unashamedly demonstrating their attraction to fire in front of their group of friends.
"Earlier, we had already noticed that there were children throwing stones — both from the bridge and trying to set dry grass on fire in that spot. We chased them away, took away a lighter. But a couple of minutes later, there was already a fire in another place. (...) It could have been the same ones," Tom clarified.
In total, the reeds burned over an area of about 100 square meters, and firefighters worked at the scene for about half an hour. The State Police has closed the case regarding the incident.
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