The fire in a multi-story building on Dzelzavas Street in Riga ended with the evacuation of residents and flooded floors. However, the most emotional part of the incident was the rescue of a cat that its owners left in the smoky apartment in panic.
A fire broke out in a nine-story building on Dzelzavas Street, 25 in Riga, forcing more than ten residents to urgently evacuate their apartments. The stairwell quickly filled with thick smoke, and water from the firefighting efforts flowed down from the upper floors, damaging the apartments of neighbors.
The source of the fire was located in the kitchen of one of the apartments. The young residents managed to get outside, but in the panic realized that their cat was still inside.
One of the neighbors recalls that at first she didn’t even understand what was happening.
“I just ran outside because someone was crying terribly,” the woman told the Degpunktā program (TV3).
At first, she thought the girl needed help due to some conflict, but it turned out that the reason was the fire.
“She is crying because her apartment is on fire. Everything is in smoke!” the neighbor recalls.
The woman immediately rushed to help.
“I said: ‘Quickly, open the door, let’s get the cat out!’”
Fortunately, the animal was very close and was also trying to escape from the smoky apartment.
“We pulled him out. The most important thing is that everyone is alive,” says the resident of the building.
After the fire, traces of water and soot remained in the stairwell. According to neighbors, water from the fifth floor flowed down to the third, and residents had to deal with the aftermath themselves.
One of the residents of the building said she smelled smoke strongly even before she saw what was happening.
“They said that you shouldn’t open the windows on the street side because it’s all in smoke,” she says.
Several versions of the causes of the fire are currently being considered.
According to neighbors, shortly before the incident, the apartment above was allegedly flooded multiple times by the neighbor above. Therefore, one of the possible causes is damage to the electrical wiring and a short circuit.
Another version being considered is that fat or the extractor fan might have caught fire while cooking.
“The firefighters said — either the electrical wires were flooded, or the fat caught fire,” the neighbor reported.
Despite the serious damage, the owner of the apartment, according to residents, reacted relatively calmly to the situation — the property was insured.
The incident on Dzelzavas once again showed how quickly an ordinary household situation can turn into an emergency — and how important neighborly assistance becomes in such moments.
