In the Irkutsk region, several apartment fires occurred in one night and day. In one case a fire killed an elderly woman, in another it nearly ended in tragedy for children left alone.

On the night of February 24, the fire department of the regional center received a report of a fire in a 10-story apartment building. Forces and resources from five fire stations, consisting of 18 people, 3 fire engines, and an aerial ladder truck, were immediately dispatched to the specified address in the Raduzhny microdistrict. Firefighters from the gas and smoke protection service managed to lead 73 people, including 8 children, out through the smoke-filled entrance of the building. The source of the fire turned out to be a one-room apartment on the second floor of the building, where furniture and household items were burning. During firefighting in the apartment, the body of a deceased woman born in 1935 was found. Firefighters needed about 30 minutes to extinguish the fire over an area of ten square meters. The cause of the fire is currently being determined.
In the 15th microdistrict of the city of Angarsk, a fire also broke out on the night of February 24. 11 personnel from Fire Station No. 10, two fire engines, and an aerial ladder truck arrived at the scene. Immediately upon arrival, firefighters began evacuating residents. 10 people were evacuated down the stairwells of the five-story building by firefighters from the gas and smoke protection team. As was later found out, the fire occurred in a one-room apartment on the first floor, in the bathroom; the burning took place inside the apartment over an area of 4 sq. m. Inside, on the sofa, a man born in 1987 was found. With carbon monoxide poisoning, he was handed over to doctors for emergency medical care and hospitalization in the emergency hospital.
In the city of Cheremkhovo, residents of one of the apartment buildings rescued four children from an apartment where a fire had broken out. The incident occurred during the day in residential building No. 31 on Shevchenko St. The residents noticed smoke coming from behind the door of a neighboring apartment and heard children screaming; they then forced the door open and rescued the children, who were alone in the apartment. A chair was burning in the apartment, and the room was heavily smoke-filled. At that moment, minutes separated the children from death, and only thanks to the vigilance of the neighbors were the children’s lives saved. The residents of building No. 31 extinguished the chair engulfed in flames, after which they called the firefighters, who inspected the building’s premises and made sure that the fire had not spread.
Each of these fires can serve as an example of the vigilance and compassion of people, thanks to whom the fire over a small area was extinguished and several dozen people and children’s lives were saved!
Based on materials from the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Irkutsk Region.