Good fire planning may have saved Finnish church visitors from being burned alive

When the wooden church in Rautjärvi burned on Christmas Day 2022, nobody was hurt, despite the doors to the main entrance being tied shut with rope. According to a Finnish fire safety expert, good fire drills and pre-planning may have saved the parish from a greater disaster.  

In Finland, some 30 -  40 people in Rautjärvi, Finland, were intentionally locked inside a burning wooden church set on fire by arson on Christmas Day. According to criminal inspector Mika Salminen, the rapid fire development, and other factors, indicate that the fire was set by an arsonist. An 80 year old man has been found dead outside his house, which had also been burnt down. He is now the prime suspect. 

The fire in the old wooden church, dating from 1881, started at 8:30 am, in the middle of the Christmas Day service. During the sermon, the priest saw smoke coming from the main entrance, then soon also flames.

There were between 30 and 40 people seated in the church, and according to reports in the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, someone had tied rope around the doors, possibly to prevent people from leaving. 

The rope around the door handles was weak so "luckily we could push the doors open", former parish priest Kari Luumo said to the newspaper. 

All the 30 - 40 people in the church were able to get out unharmed. According to Finnish senior fire safety expert Ilpo Leino at the Finnish Fire & Rescue Agency SPEK, the church staff acted very efficiently during the evacuation:

"When staff already has a plan in place for how to get people out, the evacuation can be performed safely, " Leino says to SVT.se. 

The church in Rautjärvi parish in South Karelia had already been by under threat by unknown perpetrators threatening to burn the church down. 

Finland has  experienced five or more church fires during the last two decades. In order to prevent further fires, and to protect lives, Finnish authorities have analyzed the possibility of implementing special safety features in regards to lighting, locking systems and also camera surveillance.