Fire breaks out in wood-shaving bunker at production building in Smiltene municipality

Early Wednesday morning, a fire broke out in a single-story production building in Bilska parish, Smiltene municipality, where a wood-shaving storage bunker and scattered shavings caught fire across an area of roughly 8 square meters. Latvia's State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) received the call in the early morning hours, and firefighters worked at the scene for several hours before extinguishing the blaze.

Serious fire in Valmiera

One of the more serious incidents in the Vidzeme region during the same period occurred in Valmiera, on Stacijas Street, where household belongings, storage areas and partition walls caught fire in the basement of a four-story residential building, covering about 30 square meters. The fire caused heavy smoke to fill the stairwell. Firefighters used rescue masks to lead five people out of the smoke-filled stairwell and rescued three more people from an adjacent stairwell. Three cats were also rescued from the smoke-affected apartments and returned to their owners. Five additional residents had already evacuated the building on their own before crews arrived. The fire in Valmiera was fully extinguished by evening.

Abandoned barn also burned in Gulbene municipality

Early in the morning, VUGD received another call about a fire in Jaungulbene parish, Gulbene municipality, where the intermediate floor structure of an abandoned barn burned across about 15 square meters. That fire was extinguished within a couple of hours.

In total, VUGD's Vidzeme regional administration received five calls during the 24-hour period — three for firefighting and two for rescue operations. Nationwide, the service logged 47 calls overall, including 11 fires, 20 rescue operations, and 16 false alarms.