HELSINKI, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- One person died when a wooden apartment building was destroyed by fire in Jamsa, central Finland on Tuesday, media reported.
Many residents narrowly escaped as the fire had spread, according to the newspaper Keskisuomalainen. The two-story building had eight apartments, and it was totally destroyed.
A man was found dead on the second floor. The fire had started from a cooking oil flare-up, local media said.
Pauli Nurminen, the duty manager at the Central Finland rescue service, said the house was built in the early 1950s. "Fire safety regulations were not so strict then as today," he added.
Large wooden apartment buildings were common in Finland earlier, but their construction stopped in the 1960s. In recent years, wooden buildings of several levels high have again been made, with strict fire safety precautions required.
