Rescue services fail to report more than half of qualifying fires
Friday 9th October 2026 on 06:15 in
Finland
Finland’s rescue services reported fewer than half of last year’s intentional or negligence-related fires to police, despite a legal duty to report every such case, Yle reports.
More than 11,000 fires broke out in Finland last year, including over 4,700 that were considered intentional or caused by negligence. According to figures from the Permit and Supervision Agency, fewer than half of those fires were reported to police.
The reporting rate varied widely by region. In Kymenlaakso, only 17 per cent of qualifying fires were reported, while East Uusimaa has reported every such fire for several years.
Jarkko Häyrinen, a chief rescue inspector at the Ministry of the Interior, said police need information about all such fires so they can decide which ones to investigate. When fires go unreported, that decision is effectively made by rescue officials instead, he said.
The Permit and Supervision Agency, which collects the figures from the rescue services’ Pronto information system, says long-standing practices and a lack of motivation may be behind the shortfall. Some rescue workers believe a separate report is unnecessary if police already know about a fire, including when officers are present at the scene.
In North Savo, just 27 per cent of qualifying fires were formally reported last year. Lauri Holappa, risk management manager at the North Savo Rescue Department, said police are often informed by phone or in person, but the required written report is frequently not completed.
The law requires a separate written report for fires suspected to be unclear or deliberately set. The agency says written reports provide a verifiable record and help ensure equal treatment. It has not issued formal orders or sanctions over the failures, instead monitoring the situation.
Police and rescue officials say the issue is mainly about record-keeping, and that they do not believe intentional fires are going uninvestigated. A new information system could make reporting possible with a single click, but there is no funding for that function.