Almost two years after a major fire at the waste sorting company Ecoservice in Vilnius, near Gariūnai, law enforcement officers are still analyzing its causes, and the company is seeking to recover 13,6 million euros from insurers.
"Currently, no charges have been filed against anyone in the pre-trial investigation you mentioned, the investigation into the fire at Ecoservice is still ongoing, the data obtained during the investigation, the conclusions of specialists are being analyzed, and other pre-trial investigation actions are being carried out in order to verify the circumstances indicated in the conclusions of specialists, therefore, at this stage of the pre-trial investigation, we cannot provide information about the final cause of the fire," the prosecutor's office said in a response to Elta.
Jonas Sakalauskas, a lawyer representing Ecoservice, says that the probable cause of the fire has been determined.
"The most likely cause is that the batteries were the cause of the fire"The official cause is spontaneous combustion of materials. A lot of electronic waste is not properly disposed of - people like to throw away electronics, household chemicals. Such things are flammable, they can react with each other," the lawyer told Elta.
As publicly announced, the conclusion of the Fire Investigation Center specialists indicates that the fire source area was in an open area located in a waste pile, approximately 2-4 meters above the bottom of the pile. After investigating all possible causes of the fire, the versions of focusing sunlight and sparking from vehicles were rejected, and the version of spontaneous combustion of materials was confirmed as the most likely.
"The conclusions obtained confirm that no violations related to fire prevention requirements were found in the company's activities. During the investigation, all aspects of the facility's fire safety were thoroughly examined, including employee training logs, technical means, and work organization," says Jurgita Nacevičienė, head of Ecoservice.
According to her, fire safety experts consulted by the company emphasized that the cause of spontaneous combustion can be various factors, including improperly disposed batteries or accumulators, the number of fires caused by which has been increasing in the world and in Lithuania recently.
A large fire broke out on the Ecoservice territory near Gariūnai, Vilnius, on August 5 last year. Firefighters worked at the scene for several days, and nearby Gariūnai Street was closed to traffic due to the incident, and residents were urged to avoid being outdoors and close their windows.
Then the Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat began a pre-trial investigation into the destruction of property in a generally dangerous manner. Later, after assessing the data obtained during the pre-trial investigation, this investigation was requalified and is now being conducted in accordance with the article of the Criminal Code providing for liability for violation of the rules for environmental protection or the use of natural resources or the maintenance or use of structures in which hazardous substances are used or stored or in which potentially hazardous equipment is located or hazardous activities are carried out.
Ingrida Steniulienė (ELTA)
