Teen smuggled lighter into Stuðlar and set mattress on fire

A boy held at the Stuðlar emergency placement facility smuggled in a lighter and set fire to a mattress in a room on the secure corridor in mid-August, mbl.is reports. Staff watching the room on video monitoring responded immediately and extinguished the fire before it spread.

The incident occurred less than two years after a 17-year-old boy died in a fire at the same facility in October 2024. An employee was also seriously injured in that fire.

The building has not received safety and final inspection certificates because its fire-compartment doors do not comply with the design documents. Its use should therefore be prohibited, but the building official decided this spring to allow temporary use with interim measures, including increased staffing.

The Children’s Ombudsman has demanded further explanations and said it was important to establish clearly how children’s safety is being ensured at Stuðlar, as the children there are deprived of their freedom.

The police investigation into the 2024 fire took 20 months and the case is now being handled by the prosecution department. An investigation by the Housing and Construction Authority found serious deficiencies in fire prevention, its operation and monitoring. Its report said the death could have been prevented if the fire safety systems had complied with the design.

The extension housing the emergency placement unit was completely destroyed in the fire. It was partly reopened in April last year following renovations, but temporary permission to use it with interim safety measures was not issued until this spring.

Different mattresses are now used in the emergency placement unit. They are specially designed to delay the spread of fire, but the boy was nevertheless able to ignite one.