Sleeping, I woke up from screams; a soldier rescued from the barracks fire shares details

“We were sleeping, I woke up from the screams, the first thing I did was to throw my mattress over my head so my face wouldn’t get burned,” said a soldier rescued from a fire at the military barracks in Azat village in a conversation with Factor.am.

“We were sleeping, I jumped up from the screams, I stood up, and the strong fire was already entering the room. I got up, and the first thing I did was throw my mattress over my head so my face wouldn’t get burned,” Garush recounts.

He mentioned that he tried to break down the door of the room but was unable to do so. “When I woke up, it was a confusing situation. I remember there were people trying to break down the door, which I was unable to do. The fire was very high, it was impossible to pass, and it was already about a meter away from the door,” the soldier explains.

When asked when he woke up, the soldier replied that he does not remember if his friends were lying down. “I don’t remember there being people lying down when I got up. I didn’t see any lying person, I remember it was a confusing situation, there were people rushing around, and there were even people pushing me, everyone was looking for a way out,” he continues. “But they say that aside from me and another person who came out through the window, the rest were lying down, but I trust what I saw with my own eyes, what I remember.”

The burned house in Azat village had served as barracks for soldiers since the 44-day war. According to the soldier, the house consisted of a corridor, a living room, and a bedroom. The soldier narrates that his fellow soldiers tried to break down the room’s door but were unsuccessful. During this time, Garush sustained injuries and fell to the ground. He narrowly escaped by getting out from under the grates.

He explained that he managed to reach the second window, saw that the bars had been broken: “I pulled my arms out through the window, and then the guys pulled me out.” He recounted that villagers transported him and another injured person to the hospital in their car.

When asked how they usually lit the wooden stove, the soldier answered, “We had wood brought for us, and after cutting it, we kept the shavings and added a couple of spoons of gasoline to it; that would start the fire, and then it would burn.”

He noted that there was also gasoline in the area for the tractors. The soldier stated that fire safety measures had not been present in the area for a long time.