The only thought was to get the child out of here.” In Ventspils, a family experienced terrifying moments 0 7

The house on Talsu Street caught fire so severely that no floor was spared, reports the Degpunktā program (TV3). The first spark ignited on the balcony of a second-floor apartment, and then the flames quickly spread to the top of the building, causing significant damage. Firefighters took about three hours to extinguish the fire.

The total area of the fire was 135 square meters — firefighters rescued four people from the building, one of whom was injured. Even before the arrival of rescuers, eight residents evacuated from the house.

One of them was Anete, a mother of two children from the fifth floor. The woman recalls the alarm of that morning — she and her husband had already woken up when they suddenly heard suspicious sounds.

"It just seemed like something was cracking, exploding... (..) When I approached that side, I already saw smoke in my daughter's room. I looked further — there was already flame. It was terrible. I screamed to my husband that there was a fire, we needed to run outside and that everything was very bad. I had never seen anything like this in my life, so I was in a panic," said the resident of the affected building.

Sabine from the third floor experienced similar feelings. Together with her child, she had to wait in fear for the rescuers, as it was impossible to exit through the stairwell.

"I looked out the window and opened the door a bit. Everything was in smoke. I realized that I couldn’t get out with the child, and I didn’t even understand what was burning. I called the firefighters and said that we were still in the apartment. Essentially, within 13-14 minutes, we were already brought out. A firefighter came for us. Before that, I was gathering things, and the only thought was to get the child out of here. The child was scared — she is one year and four months old. She didn’t understand at all what was happening — why I was running..."

Anete and Sabine, as they themselves say, were lucky — their apartments are on the other side of the stairwell, so the vertical spread of the fire affected them minimally: only the windows and balconies were slightly damaged. On the other side, the consequences were much more serious — on the fourth and fifth floors, the balconies were blackened, and on Tuesday, workers were dismantling dangerous structures. The apartments on the second and third floors, affected by the fire, were completely burned out, making it impossible to stay in the premises.

The Ventspils municipality came to the aid of the residents left without homes.

"At the moment, one family has been accommodated, although two families have applied. This means that the others have probably found somewhere to stay, with relatives, friends, or acquaintances. There is a dormitory at the high school where people can be accommodated. We offered them these premises," said Aigo Gutmanis, deputy chairman of the Ventspils City Council.

In the near future, this family will be placed in a more convenient municipal apartment, and the social service will develop a plan on how best to provide the victims with everything they need.