Vidzeme rescuers handle 18 callouts, some linked to wind-felled trees
The Vidzeme regional division of Latvia's State Fire and Rescue Service received 18 callouts between 9 and 12 October. Several involved trees on roads, and there were also fires and smoke incidents.
The Vidzeme regional division of Latvia's State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) received 18 callouts between 6:30 on 9 October and 6:30 on 12 October. Four were for fires, 13 for rescue work, and one was a false alarm. The figures were provided to the portal Valmieras Ziņas by Sandra Vējiņa, senior inspector at the service's Public Education and Information Division.
Trees on roads
On Friday evening, crews were called twice to Skulte parish in Limbaži municipality, where trees had fallen across roadways. Firefighters sawed up the trees and cleared the roads. On Saturday morning they returned to the same parish because a broken tree endangered people. This morning, a callout was received to Plāņi parish in Valmiera municipality, where a tree had fallen onto a road.
On Friday during the day and overnight into Saturday, the single emergency number 112 received 38 reports of wind damage, mostly trees that obstruct or fully block traffic. Of these, 20 came from Kurzeme, six from Riga, five from the Riga region, four from Vidzeme and three from Zemgale.
Fires and smoke
On Saturday afternoon, smoke formed in a single-storey house in Virešu parish, Smiltene municipality, while a heating appliance was in use. Three people left the building before firefighters arrived, who found no burning. On Saturday evening, an electricity pole burned over 0.2 m² in Jaunalūksne parish, Alūksne municipality.
At 3:24 overnight into Sunday, an electrical cabinet burned over 0.5 m² in the ground-floor stairwell of a five-storey residential building on Linarda Laicena Street in Valmiera. By the time firefighters arrived the fire was out but smoke remained, and 22 people were evacuated. Work at the scene ended at 4:32.
On Sunday evening at 21:19, a battery and wooden structures burned over 6 m² in an open area in Vaive parish, Cēsis municipality; the fire was extinguished at 22:31. Overnight into Monday at 2:32, a summer house and terrace burned over 55 m² in Pāle parish, Limbaži municipality. Volunteer firefighters from Ainaži and Korģene also helped, and the fire was put out at 4:31.
Across the country, VUGD received 144 callouts over the period: 35 for fires, 77 for rescue work and 32 false alarms.
