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4/1995Fire in a hotel in Kuhmoinen 23 December, 1995
On the early morning of 23 December 1995, a hotel and restaurant in the municipality of Kuhmoinen in Central Finland caught fire and was partly destroyed. One person died and at least 16 persons were slightly injured in the fire. The personal injuries were slight in light of the threat posed by the accident. Over 40 guests at the hotel were in immediate danger. All the guests in the hotel were Russian tourists, and most were children. The hotel fire was classified as an incident involving the apparent danger of a major accident. Consequently, on 28 December 1995 the Council of State appointed a board of investigation to investigate the accident from different points of view, using different methods. The most important data for the investigation have been the records of questioning conducted by the police, interviews, technical investigations, a computer generated simulation of the fire, comparative data from other similar accidents, and data collected on the general safety level of hotels. The focus in the investigation has been on discovering the cause of the dangerous situation, ascertaining what lessons could be learned, and finding ways to improve the safety level. Since possible questions of guilt are the responsibility of the police investigations, the board of investigation has not taken a position in its work on such questions of guilt.
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