More than a hundred die in fires in 2008
Last year 103 people lost their lives in fires in Finland.
The grim statistics were compiled by the Finnish National Rescue Association, SPEK.
The number of victims exceeded the 2007 figure by 13.
Last year three out of four of the fatalities were men.
The number of female victims was 25.
The gender of four of the victims remained unclear in the media statements concerning the fires.
The leading cause of fatal fires was smoking. Most often fires broke out in detached houses rather than apartments. The majority of the victims were either of middle-age or elderly.
According to SPEK, the objective is to bring down the annual number of deaths in house and apartment blazes to below 50 by 2015, though in the light of the current figures this sounds ambitious at best.
Helsingin Sanomat
