Y2023-02 Apartment fire causing the death of five people in Vantaa on 8 October 2023

On 8 October 2023, a fire broke out early in the morning in a sauna in an apartment located in Hakunila, Vantaa, resulting in five fatalities. The sauna heater, which had been accidentally programmed to turn on, switched on during the night, heating the panel wall behind it to the point that the wall ignited.

The parents of the six-person family were woken up to the sound of the smoke alarm. The family’s mother and four children aged between 2 and 7 were unable to leave the burning apartment. Both parents were from Somalia, from where the father of the family had come to Finland in the 1990s and the mother in 2018. The father has acquired Finnish citizenship.

In the investigation, it was observed that it is easy to switch on many sauna heaters. There are no childproof locks or other safety features that would prevent unintentional use. It may not be easy to see if the heater has been turned on or if the timer has been activated.

The sauna stones had apparently not been rearranged or replaced in several years. The wedging, settling and erosion of the stones restricted the air circulation through the stone compartment, and the heat generated by the heating elements was not transferred to the sauna space as intended. The heater heated up significantly and ignited the panel wall behind the heater. The importance of the rearrangement and replacement of the stones in the sauna heater for fire safety has not been sufficiently recognised. There is no effective guideline available for rearranging and replacing the stones.

As the safety of an electric sauna is largely based on the activities of individuals, errors related to the use and maintenance of sauna heaters may be fatal. Preventing errors or limiting their effects is mainly based on warnings in the instruction manual, and related technical solutions are not sufficiently used.

It is obvious that there were gaps in the mother’s knowledge and skills related to the safety of everyday life and housing. Immigrants who have entered the country through family reunification do not always receive sufficient cultural orientation.

The accident occurred in an area where shortcomings have been identified in the response readiness of rescue services. Corrective measures had been initiated, but not all measures had been taken. In an area with significant new construction, improving the readiness of rescue services to respond to increased risks requires new resources, including the construction of new fire stations, which is a slow process.

The Emergency Response Centre and emergency medical services had initially incomplete information about the number of people exposed, which delayed dispatching ambulances. The first police patrol to arrive at the scene forwarded the correct number of exposed individuals to the Virve network’s multi-authority group. This information was drowned out by other radio communications. The successful delivery of critical information was not verified by requiring acknowledgements.

Two recommendations were issued in the investigation. The Safety Investigation Authority, Finland recommends that

1. The Ministry of the Interior, together with various actors involved in safety communications, highlights the importance of the safe use and regular maintenance of electric sauna heaters for fire safety. (2025-S8).
2. The National Electrotechnical Standardisation Organisation (SESKO) promotes the safety requirements for electric sauna heaters in the standards by improving the operating logic and ergonomics of operating switches. In addition, the structural safety requirements of sauna heaters must be developed to avoid overheating of the heater and the ignition of the surrounding structures, regardless of user activities. (2025-S9)