Person rescued in Riga fire; firefighters report busy 24 hours

On Friday evening, Latvia's State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) received an emergency call to Laboratorijas Street in Riga, where household items were burning in an apartment on the fifth floor of a five-story residential building. The fire covered an area of ten square meters. According to VUGD, one person had already been rescued from the burning apartment before firefighters arrived; the individual was handed over to medical personnel. Firefighters evacuated ten other residents from the building, and work at the scene concluded after 10 p.m.

Shortly before 9 p.m., another call came from Brīvības gatve in Riga, where a lamp was burning on the third floor of a three-story public building. The fire was extinguished before crews arrived. Thirty people evacuated themselves from the building, and firefighters ventilated the smoke-filled premises.

Just before 10 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to Rumbas Parish in Kuldīga Municipality, where a two-story public building was on fire. Flames affected the first floor, an intermediate ceiling and the roof, with a total burn area of 260 square meters. Twelve firefighters and four tanker trucks were involved in extinguishing the blaze; operations were completed at 4:41 a.m.

Over the past 24 hours, VUGD received 45 calls in total: eight for firefighting, 27 for rescue operations, and ten turned out to be false alarms.