On Friday, a high-risk fire occurred on Ropažu Street in Riga, involving a large number of firefighters in its extinguishment.
A quick response and involvement of those around, as well as the professionalism of the rescuers, saved the old wooden house from serious damage, reports the show Degpunktā (TV3).
Rescue vehicles blocked Ropažu Street, and several fire brigades worked to save the wooden building where the fire broke out. From the street, nothing indicated a fire — it was happening on the other side of the house. It was while walking through the yard that Vadim noticed the flames.
“I went back, took a look. It turned out the fire was a bit below the first floor. I realized that the ceiling beams were burning because smoke was coming from the cladding. Well, outside. I went back, we have a fire extinguisher there. I took the extinguisher and started to put it out. Well, as best as I could. I extinguished while calling the firefighters. I extinguished as best as I could. Then the firefighters arrived, and everything else started. Well, I managed to hold it back a bit,” the man said.
The fire station is two minutes away, so professional firefighting was able to start on time.
“In the yard, they removed the cladding, the firefighters removed the cladding. It turned out to be fiberglass, which has been there for years. It had already dried out. Apparently, it was burning inside. Maybe due to ventilation. Maybe something got into the ventilation. Well, the wooden house has been standing for a long time. It is completely dry now. Well, I don’t know. Neighbors say that a 90-year-old woman lives there. Her son, who is 60 years old. The woman is deaf, apparently she was at home. An old woman. It is quite possible that she heard nothing. Or it turned out that it was burning right by her window. If she had opened the window, then she could have seen that it was burning,” Vadim added.
GPSS representative Irita Slavinska reported that shortly after three o’clock in the afternoon, a call was received for Ropažu Street in Riga, where the external wall of a three-story residential building was on fire, covering an area of 20 square meters. Before the GPSS arrived, four people evacuated from the house, and the firefighters-rescuers saved two cats and two dogs from the building.
