Fire in Daugavpils apartment building: 24 people and six pets rescued

A fire broke out in a five-storey residential building on Pushkin Street in Daugavpils on Thursday, and firefighters from the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) rescued 24 people and six pets. Four more residents left the building on their own. The service used the incident to remind the public that every home should have a smoke detector.

Rescuers received the call at 5:02 p.m. On arrival they found the stairwell heavily filled with smoke, while in a first-floor apartment a computer and household belongings were burning over an area of five square metres. Firefighters used special rescue masks to bring people out. Work at the scene ended at 6:48 p.m.

Other fires

On Thursday a fire also broke out in the Belava parish of Gulbene municipality, where a one-storey residential house burned over 100 square metres. One person managed to get out before rescuers arrived.

In Jelgava, on Smilšu Street, a utility room caught fire in a two-storey house. One person was injured and handed over to medical personnel.

Overnight into Friday, firefighters went to Dzelzava Street in Riga. In a first-floor apartment of a nine-storey building, unattended food and kitchen furniture had caught fire on a switched-on stove. Three people evacuated from the home. Rescuers found that the apartment had no smoke detector installed.

Daily tally

Over the past 24 hours the service received 37 calls in total. Ten involved extinguishing fires, 18 involved rescue work, and nine turned out to be false alarms.