Accident Investigation Authority, Finland to InvestigateHostel Fire in Äkäslompolo – Probable Cause of Fire Outside of Building

The Safety In­ves­ti­ga­tion Au­thor­ity, Fin­land (SIAF) has ini­ti­ated an in­ves­ti­ga­tion into a hos­tel fire that oc­curred in Äkäs­lom­polo in the night of 13 Feb­ru­ary 2024.

The police has communicated on victim accounting and victim identification. Link to press release.

The SIAF has conducted on-site investigation in collaboration with the police and aided by the rescue department on Wednesday, 14 February 2024. In parallel with the on-site investigation, the SIAF continued to collect material and conduct interviews.

The hostel was burned to the ground. The investigative measures conducted so far indicate that the fire started externally and spread through the building.

”It is probable that the fire was not started by the electric bikes stored outside of the building. According to the information we have, the e-bikes have not been charged outside and thus the batteries were not attached to the bikes. In accident investigation, we oftentimes have to start out by excluding possible causes of the accident, that is, we follow several leads and exclude possible causes one by one until we are left with the most probable cause of the accident. Such is the case here and this simply takes time”, explain Investigator-in-charge Timo Naskali.

According to the information received by the SIAF, there were fire alarms in the building. However, it is yet unclear whether the guests and personnel heard the alarms or not. This is something that will be further investigated.

Safety investigations take on an average nine to twelve months. A safety investigation does not address questions pertaining to legal liability or compensation. The sole purpose of safety investigation is to promote safety and prevent future accidents from happening.