A major fire appears to have destroyed an entire shopping centre in Jyväskylä’s Palokka neighbourhood.
Ten firefighting units worked to extinguish the blaze after receiving an alarm around 12.30 on Friday afternoon.
Rescue officials advised nearby residents to close their windows and ventilation systems and to remain indoors due to thick smoke. Police cordoned off the area, and one nearby block of flats was evacuated.
Fire chief Tapio Viitanen told Yle that the blaze began with a fishmonger’s truck parked in front of the retail complex. Eyewitnesses say that a canopy over a salmon grill caught fire, spreading quickly to the building.
There are no reports of injuries.
Mail deliveries lost in flames
Samuli Koskinen, manager of the K-Market grocery store in the centre, told Yle that everyone got out safely, but that shopping centre appears to have been completely destroyed.
The postal company Posti estimates that about 200 mail deliveries, mostly incoming, were destroyed at a postal service point located within the K-Market.