A police officer is seen in front of the accident scene in Vantaa, Finland, on October 8, 2023. Photo: Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
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A fire that killed a mother and four children in an apartment block in Vantaa’s Hakunila district in October 2023 was caused by an overheating sauna stove and worsened by obstructed exits and delayed emergency response, according to a final report published by the Safety Investigation Authority of Finland (Otkes).
The fire began during the night in a ground-floor apartment when a misconfigured electric sauna stove switched on unintentionally. The stove overheated after being used with old stones for too long without maintenance. The excessive heat ignited the panelled wall behind the stove.
Timo Naskali, lead investigator at Otkes, said that while the fire started in the sauna, the deaths occurred because evacuation failed.
“There was a real opportunity to escape,” Naskali said in the report. “The apartment was on the first floor. But the large corner sofa in front of the balcony door made evacuation from that route difficult.”
The victims, a woman and her four children, were trapped inside. The husband survived. The family had working smoke alarms, which were triggered, but the mother reportedly did not understand the significance of the alarm or the visible smoke.
The report notes that the mother, who had arrived in Finland through a family reunification process, might not have been fully reached by integration measures. Naskali added that safety routines common in Finnish homes might not have been familiar to her.
“Immigrants arriving through family reunification often rely on the earlier-arrived relative to explain local practices. These safety concepts might not become clear even after years,” Naskali stated.
The sauna stove had no visible indicators showing it was active or set to a timer. Many older electric stoves also lack child locks or other modern safety features. The report confirms that the stove in this incident was unintentionally set to activate at night.
Otkes stressed that sauna stones should be replaced according to the manufacturer’s instructions, typically once per year. Old stones block air flow, which increases the risk of overheating.
Investigators also examined how rescue services responded to the emergency. The report describes a confusing situation. Multiple emergency calls were made, and the emergency centre issued alerts quickly. But due to overlapping messages from police, ambulance, and fire services, the full picture was not clear in time.
Initially, the emergency centre underestimated how many people were exposed to danger. This led to a delay in dispatching enough ambulances. The report also points out broader issues in the area’s emergency preparedness.
Hakunila has seen rapid construction and population growth, but re
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
