Riga Castle Burns

Leta has it in English;

Riga Castle blaze localized

RIGA, June 21 (LETA) - This morning, after more than five hours of intense work, firefighters finally managed to put out a large blaze that broke out in Riga Castle last night.

The fire burned down an area of 3,200 square meters.

State Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele informed LETA that the fire was localized at 3:53 a.m.

The blaze damaged the castle's roof, roof constructions and attic the most - setting ablaze 2,400 square meters. The fire also raged on the fourth floor, where 600 square meters were ablaze, and on the third floor, engulfing an area of 200 square meters.

According to the State Fire and Rescue Service, it is still too early to talk about the cause of the blaze.

But Diena has the pictures!

This is too bad as the castle is located right at the foot of the Guyed bridge on the edge of Old Town and across the street from the National Bank on Citadele iela where our office is located. It is quite noticeable.

<EDIT> Mrs. T has just taken the tram to the office and claimed to not be able to see much damage. Given the low profile of the roof I figured that most of the damage would be internal. Something like this building in Tukums. Just to add what was on Radio Baltcom, a military helicopter was called in to dump water on the blaze as many of the Soviet era pumps were not working!;