Overheated sauna wall panels thought to be cause of yesterday’s hotel fire

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Overheated sauna wall panels are thought to have caused yesterday’s potentially disastrous hotel fire in central Helsinki.
      The top floor fire at the Scandic Continental Hotel in the Taka-Töölö district of the Finnish capital was first observed by a passer-by, who informed the emergency services at 6:15 a.m. of smoke coming from the building’s roof structures.
      At the time of the incident, there were 500 guests in the hotel. Around 60 of them had to be evacuated from the top two floors. None of the guests were in grave danger at any stage.
     
The Fire Department put out the blaze within an hour.
      "At first we thought it was a roof fire", explained fire chief in charge Markku Ahola.
      In the sauna department, however, the firefighters soon encountered a sauna that was all ablaze. Every window in the sauna department had been smashed by the fire, which had spread into some of the roof structures as well.
      "We were lucky that no-one was hit when the burnt window frames fell down on the street. One fireman sustained minor injuries when fighting the blaze", Ahola commented.
     
"The police examined the premises first thing in the morning and quickly ruled out the possibilities of a technical fault or sabotage", explained crime superintendent Markku Stenberg from the Violent Crime Unit of the Helsinki Police Department on Tuesday afternoon.
      According to Stenberg the electric sauna in question was heated every day from early morning until late at night. On Tuesday morning it had been switched on at 5:30.
      "When the sauna is heated every day by using a relatively powerful electric sauna stove, the adjacent wall panels gather heat and, with bad luck, there is a remote chance that the wooden panels may eventually reach their flashpoint", Stenberg speculated.
      The sauna stove itself was correctly installed, and the hotel had not overlooked any safety regulations, Stenberg emphasised.
     
The aftermath of the fire, with cleaning and sauna rebuilding work included, will not affect the operation of the hotel.
      "Only a couple of rooms will be out of action for a while", hotel director Kristel Skjäl confirmed.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Potentially threatening fire destroys top floor sauna of Helsinki hotel (17.4.2007)

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