Authors press state to answer for deadly Stuðlar fire

In an opinion article published by Morgunblaðið, Salvör Nordal and Kristinn Magnússon say the state must take responsibility for safety failures after a 17-year-old boy died in a fire at Stuðlar on 19 October 2024. The boy was in emergency care there and had been deprived of his freedom under the state’s responsibility.

The authors say children placed in closed facilities for their protection must be able to trust that they are safe, and that the state has a particular duty to protect them because they cannot leave when danger arises.

A report on the fire by the Housing, Construction and Planning Authority (HMS), published on 18 March 2026, concluded that the death could have been prevented if fire-safety measures had worked as designed, including the evacuation plan. Repeated demands for improvements had not led to the required action. Fire compartmentation failed, smoke vents did not open and door-release mechanisms on escape routes did not work. An extension had also been in use without the required safety and final inspection certificates.

The police investigation took more than 20 months before the case was sent to the prosecution department last summer, the authors write. They say it is essential to establish what went wrong and prevent a recurrence.

The Quality and Supervisory Authority of Welfare Services (GEV), which investigates serious unexpected incidents in services under its oversight, paused its investigation into the fire in January 2025. It said it could not ensure that staff testimony would not be used against them in criminal proceedings. GEV closed its investigation on 5 May 2026 without issuing a report. Media reports have said the authority considered the passage of time had made an investigation difficult, even if its legal powers were expanded.

The Ombudsman for Children has urged the authorities to allow GEV to investigate serious incidents alongside police investigations. A bill before Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, would protect testimony gathered by GEV and prevent its investigation reports from being used as evidence in criminal cases. The authors say both staff rights and prompt investigations into service safety must be protected.

After the HMS report was published, the Ombudsman for Children sought information from the fire service and building official about the facility’s safety and required certificates. Part of the extension returned to use in April 2025. The Ombudsman for Alþingi found that the emergency accommodation at Stuðlar had been in use without authorization after alterations in 2021 until May 2026, when the building official temporarily permitted its use with increased staffing, based on a risk assessment by a fire-safety designer.