Following a series of big fires in various waste recycling facilities in Lithuania, a team of investigators will look into whether they were caused by saboteurs, says Renatas Požėla, director of the Fire and Rescue Department.
According to Požėla, the team is put together by the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
“Each institution involved in this team will bring its own data, insights and observations, which will help us better understand what happened, why it happened, whether there’s any connection, and, of course, whether there was any intentional human involvement,” he told BNS.
The investigators will seek to answer whether the fires were caused by intentional criminal activity, workplace safety violations, or were accidental, Požėla added.
“Yes, the incidents are recurring, yes, the locations are different, but essentially the issues are similar, so we want to hear those answers soon,” he said.
The first meeting of the prosecutor’s team is scheduled for Tuesday, according to Požėla.
A fire broke out at the Plasta plastic recycling factory in Vilnius on Saturday, and it was extinguished after several hours.
Požėla said that a pre-trial investigation into the incident “should begin” on Monday. Vilnius police have not yet confirmed to BNS whether the investigation has been launched.
This is the latest in a series of fires at large facilities over the past month. In late April, a fire broke out at a waste sorting facility in the Vilnius region, and last week, a fire occurred at the Kaunas cogeneration plant and at a metal scrap collection point in the southern town of Alytus.
No evidence linking fires to sabotage
The National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said in a comment to BNS that there is no reliable information to link the recent fires at waste recycling sites to one another, draw any conclusions, or suspect sabotage.
“We understand that, with Russia carrying out sabotage activities in Western countries, the public may have concerns about potential sabotage. However, until investigators reach their conclusions, we should not attribute every fire, of which thousands occur each year, to Russian intelligence services,” it said.
Požėla said it is “good news” that the fires were extinguished without injuries or fatalities, although “there was significant property damage”.
“Looking ahead, we plan to conduct follow-up safety checks at similar institutions and businesses, and together with facility managers, reassess fire safety requirements,” he said.
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