On the evening of August 25, a fire broke out in the Gaukhar Tas residential complex in Almaty, located at 150 Abai Avenue, Block 1. The blaze started in an apartment on the ninth floor, reports infohub.kz.
Rescuers received a signal about smoke in the 16-story building at 21:56 local time. Upon arrival, the Department for Emergency Situations of Almaty determined that the fire was burning over an area of 4 square meters. Due to dense smoke on the stairwells, there was a serious threat to residents.
An operational firefighting headquarters was quickly established, and gas-and-smoke protection units began evacuating and rescuing people. A fire truck with an aerial ladder was also deployed for the operations.
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the firefighters, the blaze was contained at 22:28 and fully extinguished at 22:36. As a result of the incident, 85 people were rescued, and another 42 were evacuated, including four children.
It is worth noting that this is not the first fire in Almaty residential complexes in recent days. Earlier, there was a report of a fire in another residential complex, where a woman who was injured later died despite medical efforts. It later emerged that a six-year-old girl also perished in that fire and could not be saved.