The world-famous Swedish Ice Hotel has been forced to install a fire alarm.

The hotel, which is rebuilt every year, was refused planning permission lest they install one on the premises.

However, this soon proved not to be an outlandish request, as the alarm went off when a guest lit a cigarette in a cleaning cupboard.

Despite the entire hotel, including all furniture and appliances inside it, being built from ice from river near Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, the National Housing Board threatened to put a stop to this year’s construction.

Following a test period during last season it was deemed necessary in order for the Ice Hotel to get planning permission.

‘We were a bit surprised, but you just have to accept the situation, press officer Beatrice Karlsson told Dagens Nyheter.

‘Tests were made to see if there are items which can catch fire. It would be sheep- and reindeer skins, pillows and matrasses, but the risk of it happening is not that big,’ she added.

Ms Karlsson explained that the hotel struggled to find a smoke alarm which could withstand cold, damps and the fact that the Ice Hotel moves during the season as the building melts and freezes.

Surprisingly, the smoke alarm installed during the test period last year went off.

‘It was a guest sneaking a smoke in the cleaning cupboard. So it was nothing too serious.’

The Jukkasjarvi ice hotel prides itself on being the first of its kind in the world, first opening in 1990.

It is open each year from December to April, with everything from the glasses in the Ice bar to the chairs and beds the hotel sculpted from ice taken from Torne River.

(dailymail.co.uk)

ANN.Az