Rescue Services: New Year's holidays were tragic

Take note – story published 8 years and 10 months ago

In the four New Year's holidays in Latvia five people have died in fires, and firefighters are calling the holidays tragic, Viktorija Gribuste, a representative of the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) told Latvian Television Monday. 

In comparison to the Christmas holidays, New Year's holidays were a lot busier, and a number of fires ended badly with five people dead and twelve more injured.

"It's much too much in four days for our little Latvia," Gribuste told LTV.

She said that the fires were related to the cold which caused people to more actively use electric heaters or put too much firewood in their stoves, while some fires were caused by carelessness, like the Christmas tree lighting up and setting the couch aflame. 

The VUGD received 206 calls from 6:30 AM December 31 to 6:30 AM January 4. A total of 123 were related to fires, 49 were rescue missions while 33 were prank calls.

These have been the most tragic New Year's holidays in the last three years.

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles

More

Most important