"The Icon of the Seas vessel being built at the Meyer Turku shipyard was alerted on Thursday, February 2, after ten o'clock in the morning.
The cause of the fire alarm was a fire that broke out in one of the ship's stairwells. As a precautionary measure, all the approximately 2,500 people who worked on the ship were evacuated from the ship. According to the BTI, the fire broke out in the ship's upper deck structures.
The fire was extinguished using a portable fire extinguisher by the shipyard's own fire brigade. Work on the ship was able to continue, with the exception of the fire area, just over an hour after the fire alarm was issued.
The cause of the fire is being investigated. The material damage caused by the fire is estimated to be minor, the shipyard estimates.
Anna Hakala, the shipyard's communications manager, told Yle in the morning that the evacuation of the Icon of the Seas vessel caused a slight delay to work.
"Of course, this caused delays when the workers had to leave the ship. They have already returned to work. We are investigating the damage caused.
Icon of the Seas is a cruise ship under construction for Royal Caribbean International that will become the leading ship in the Icon class. It is scheduled to enter service in 2024.
The rescue department praises the ship's safety planning
On-call manager Juha Virto from the Southwest Finland Rescue Department said in the afternoon that the first-aid extinguishing was carried out in an exemplary manner.
"The fire had been contained, and it was left to the rescue department to ensure that people in the vicinity of the fire area had all been able to get to safety. After that, we used various technical devices to determine whether the fire could spread to the premises surrounding the fire area. Once it had been secured, the task for the rescue department ended quite quickly.
Virto praises the shipyard's safety measures.
"The good safety planning of the ship is reflected in the fact that there were no personal injuries during the evacuation. The security arrangements there have been handled quite well."
Fire at Meyer's Turku shipyard in Icon of the Seas in the morning – 2,500 shipbuilders evacuated to | Yle News