Fire Destroys Family Home in Nizhny Novgorod
Flames spread over an area of about 120 square meters, per regional emergency services.
A major fire in the Kanavinsky district of Nizhny Novgorod upended life for a large family: the Yavorsky family’s house on Prokatnaya Street burned down. The blaze destroyed all their belongings, and the parents with five children are now forced to stay temporarily with relatives outside the city. What happened on that terrible day on 4 October and why the home could not be saved, the children’s mother Anna Yavorskaya told NN.RU.
When it happened, the Nizhny Novgorod resident was not at home — she had gone on an errand, and her husband was looking after the children. While the children were having lunch, he stepped outside to fix a scooter, and at that moment the eldest child smelled smoke.
«He went and checked all the sockets — you never know if something had shorted. He checked whether any chargers were smoking, but everything seemed fine. The second child ran outside and saw smoke coming from the roof. He shouted to the other children to get out, then went to his father in the yard. The house already smelled strongly of burning», Anna recalls.
The father first took all the children outside, then ran back into the house. Inside, everything was shrouded in smoke, and they managed to save only documents and the dog.
«The dog refused to move, and my husband carried her out in his arms. There wasn’t an open fire yet, but smoke was already pouring down from the roof in a heavy cloud. We had other animals that, unfortunately, did not survive. It was simply impossible to run back for them», Anna adds.
While the father was inside, one of the children ran to the neighbors to ask them to call the firefighters. Anna herself also phoned emergency services several times; according to her, help took longer than usual.
«I have seen many fires, and there have been ones on our street — people’s sheds caught fire. Firefighters always arrived very quickly. In our case I drove from Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsii Street to the house, and by the time I arrived no one had come. I called and begged: “I have five children, it’s not a shed or a banya (traditional bathhouse) that can be rebuilt. My house where the children live is burning.”» Anna says. «As it later turned out, the station that is three minutes from us had no personnel at that time, and firefighters were summoned from across the city, so they were coming from different districts. Of course, a lot of time was lost.»
According to Anna, more than half the house was wooden — and it burned. Almost none of their possessions could be saved: only the refrigerator survived, and it is not yet known whether it still works.
Local residents posted footage and information about the fire on VKontakte.
«All our things and the life we had burned to ashes. We are temporarily staying in the region with my husband’s relatives. But the thing is, I have four schoolchildren who must attend school (the parents have five children: a six-year-old daughter and four sons, aged 14, 12, 9 and 4 — ed.). We have opened a fundraising campaign and are waiting for a response from the administration: we hope they can provide temporary housing, because renting an apartment is very expensive and unaffordable for us right now. We will try to rebuild at least the shell before winter so the children have a roof over their heads. Their whole life now depends on us, and, unfortunately, we are not all-powerful», she says.
You can find Anna’s contact details at this link.
According to the regional MChS (Ministry of Emergency Situations), the preliminary cause of the fire was a breach of the rules governing the installation and operation of electrical equipment. Emergency responders told Anna that a short circuit occurred in the house; exactly what caused it is not yet known.
