The outer door of the Norrgård art clinic in Parainen, near Turku was engulfed in flames when fire officials arrived on the scene after receiving a call to respond to an alert at Norrgårdintie around 1.30 am Sunday.
The outer door was completely destroyed and a window pane had shattered, apparently because of the heat. Officials speculated that the fire had been deliberately set and police are said to be investigating the case as sabotage.
The Finnish Red Cross planned to open an asylum seeker reception centre at the former Norrgård art clinic in April. The Red Cross intended to accommodate 150 asylum seekers at Norrgård, after removing them from their current location at the Strandbo Hotel in Parainen.
The incident is the latest in a series of attempted arson attacks on asylum seeker reception centre facilities in recent months.