Fire in Cesis: the cat's intuition proved to be infallible 0 21

The flames were spotted in time, and the rescuers managed to successfully extinguish the fire; however, local residents raised the question — how could the balcony on the top floor catch fire if the apartment has been vacant for some time, reports the show Degpunktā (TV3).

The firefighters were likely called just before midnight by someone who noticed the burning balcony from the street — and it’s a good thing they were, as at such a late hour, the residents might have learned about the situation much later, when the fire had already intensified.

Opposite the burning apartment lives Sandra. The first to "inform" her about the incident was a cat that was meowing unusually while sitting at the front door of the apartment. There has been much talk about animals' ability to sense danger. After the cat's "performance," the neighbors also became active and started shouting.

"When I opened the door, the firefighters were already on the scene. Very quickly, indeed. But first, I woke up because the child made a sound like 'help.' I went to see what was happening, and when I opened the door, the firefighters immediately said: 'don't open the door.' But, I guess, it’s good that there were keys to that apartment. (...) (DP: So there was no one home?) No one has been there for about a month — at least I haven’t noticed any movement," Sandra recounts.

This is confirmed by the building manager. The apartment has been vacant for some time, and the young man who holds the keys reported that there was also no one inside on Monday. This, however, raises questions about the cause of the fire.

There is no electricity on the balcony. Most often, such fires occur due to cigarette butts that residents do not fully extinguish or throw from upper floors, which then fly into neighboring apartments. In this case, the cigarette would have had to come from a lower floor.

"When I entered the apartment, I realized that the main fire was on the balcony, where there was some kind of outdoor sofa with a mattress that was primarily burning. Of course, the roof box is damaged, and the decorative plaster on the ceiling, because the firefighters needed to ensure that the fire did not penetrate the roof structure. They successfully did that — they confirmed it. And the fire was extinguished very promptly. But still, the damage, restoration of the facade — that’s several thousand," said Janis Gruntmanis, chairman of the board of JGA LLC.

The law enforcement agencies will investigate the causes of the incident.