A large fire that broke out at the Jokioinen Leipä bread factory in Kanta-Hame early on Sunday morning will likely completely destroy the facility, according to the head of the company.
According to Jokioinen Leipä's managing director, Mikko Virtanen, a fire alarm at the factory sounded at 4:30am on Sunday.
"After the alarm went off, we arrived at the site on our own. We managed to extinguish the fire from outside before rescue services arrived, but by that time it had spread to the wall structures," Virtanen said.
In a statement issued just after 10am on Sunday, the Häme Police Department said it has opened an arson investigation into the blaze and that investigators have not ruled out the possibility of foul play.
The statement noted that the fire did not cause any personal injuries.
The factory is located in the Kanta-Hame region's municipality of Jokioinen, about 120km north-west of Helsinki.
As of around 9:30am, there were no reports of injuries at the site.
According to a local public advisory, billowing smoke from the fire is hazardous to people's health. It advised people in the area to stay indoors, turn off ventilation systems and to wait for an announcement that the hazardous situation has ended.
Traffic advisory agency Fintraffic has warned that smoke from the blaze was reducing visibility on some stretches of highway 10.
Firefighting efforts continued throughout Sunday morning, and efforts to extinguish the blaze will likely continue for a long time, according to rescue services.
"It looks like our facility will be completely destroyed today. We're talking about extensive damage," Virtanen told Yle.
Jokioinen Leipä is a family-run bakery business that was founded in 1983. Its previous premises burned down in 2013, after which the current facility was constructed at the same location on Leivänkuja road.
According to the company's website the bakery has around 140 employees.
Updated at 12:00pm on 8 February 2025 to add new video and photo, while an earlier update added that police have opened an investigation into the fire.
