Fire safety rarely comes up for the housing company board. It should receive special attention in older row houses, where fire compartmentation and other structures intended to prevent the spread of fire may not comply with current regulations .
A fire next door is also a risk to your own home and family
In older building stock, the risk of fire spreading from one apartment to another is high. Structural upgrades that improve fire safety are laborious and expensive.
There have unfortunately been several such cases in recent years, including:
"In old row houses, fire destroys property more easily than in new ones - the devastating fire in Kalvia raised the question of whether high-risk buildings should be mapped"
- Yle News, 11 May 2018, https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10189142
"Row house left uninhabitable after fire in Pirkkala - rescue services evacuated 12 residents"
- Aamulehti, 29 March 2020, https://www.aamulehti.fi/pirkanmaa/art-2000007545588.html
"Old row-house roofs conceal a fire spread hazard - a fire that claimed one life reignited and spread through the whole building"
- Yle News, 25 February 2021, https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11227299
"Do you live in an apartment building built before 1978? A catastrophe may be waiting in your home if a fire starts"
- Yle News, 10 November 2020, https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11640298
In newer buildings, an apartment fire can usually be contained to the apartment where it starts. Even then, smoke and firefighting leave their mark on the whole housing company for a long time, even if the fire is limited to a single apartment.
The most sensible approach is to invest in preventive fire safety.
Most home fires start in the kitchen
In row houses, around 65% of fires start in the kitchen, according to the Finnish National Rescue Association SPEK . The cause may be food left on the stove, an item that does not belong on a hot stove, or the resident being unable to react.
Even if the fire is extinguished quickly, it always causes major material damage to the apartment - and in the worst case to the whole housing company. That is why every shareholder in a housing company should have the opportunity to influence their own safety.
How well do you know your neighbors?
Dementia, old age and heavy alcohol use can change a person and their behavior and increase the risk of stove fires. Even if someone still seems like the same pleasant neighbor as before, in reality we do not know how they behave and act at home.
It is also worth remembering that in a housing company we cannot control how other people act, but we can improve the technical means for preventing stove fires.
Tukes: "These things are taken into account in a safe housing company"
Tukes has prepared a checklist for housing companies, “These things are taken into account in a safe housing company” , which draws attention to stove fires and recommends installing a stove safety device.
A stove guard helps protect both your neighbors and the property
Safera stove guard is a cost-effective way to take care of your own fire safety and that of your neighbors in apartment, row-house and semi-detached housing companies.
A stove guard is a device installed on the stove that detects the risk of a stove fire and cuts the power to the stove. It can be installed on existing stoves. Thanks to its wireless design, it also works in kitchen islands, and installation takes about an hour per apartment.
A Safera stove guard suits all residents
A stove guard suits every home, including homes of older people and people with dementia , because it does not require learning a new way of using the stove, unlike a cooker with timer, for example.
Extra safety at a low cost, often even without a general meeting
Compared with other upgrades in a housing company, the cost of a stove guard is minimal relative to the benefits it brings. Not to mention the situation after a fire, when liability questions are discussed and the costs are counted.
Thanks to the low total cost, the decision to purchase stove guards for a housing company can often be made by the board without a general meeting.
Compared with major renovation projects, it can also be implemented on a fast schedule.
Tell your housing company board about stove guards today
Are you a board member of a housing company or a property manager, and would you like to present the matter to the other board members?
Read how Finnsbacka Bostad installed Safera stove guards in all its apartments
The safer housing company
When fire risks came up in Finnsbacka Bostad housing company, the board decided to bring fire safety into this century...
Everyday life is already safer for more than 300,000 people thanks to our Finnish-made Safera stove guard
We founded Safera Oy in 2007 with one goal: that no stove fire would ever start again anywhere in the world. There is still work to do, but our stove guard already makes everyday life safer for hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
Careless stove use is the leading cause of home fires . With our smart technology, stove fires can in practice be prevented almost completely.