A Fire Door

Question: What is a fire door? 

Answer: A door equipped and fire resistance rated that forms part of the compartment which serves to reduce the spread of fire or slows its progression. 

A fire door, may come with:

1. A door closer 
2. A door strip 
3. Fire resistance glass inserted into the door 

A fire door can be one placed at the entrance of the maintenance service areas on each floor, where all the electrical wiring and pipes do pass

Or in a room, such as the IT server room

As well as on the escape route corridor area to allow for escape from fire by the building occupants 

The integrity of a fire door is only held when the door is closed..hence at all time, keep the fire door shut 

All fire doors should be signed with the signage below to ensure the required need of the fire door is met.

Have you seen a fire door in your work environment before

Think safety at all time..

Be safe. 

Fire Safety Selfie

What are the three elements needed to start fire?

Do not say selfie, seriously

1.  
2.  Oxygen 
3. 
   

How readily available are all three elements in your work or home environment, to complete the triangle required to start fire?

Think safety, look around and observe, take corrective action to eliminate the risk.  

The Sun of Fire

A close up shot of a solar flare from the sun, the heat from the sun this close will be quite intense, radiation from the sun, warms us on earth, but without the magnetic north and south poles the sun's radiation level on earth would be too much to bear and would have an impact on electrical equipment and general livelihood on earth.

Appreciate the dangers in your environment, nature thinks fire protection, think so too, be safe...

Get a smoke alarm installed

Raise the alarm if you notice smoke or fire

Make available fire extinguishers to be positioned and used in case of fire 

Know your fire escape plan

Get to your fire assembly point

An awkward situation

What would you do caught in this situation, I hope there were enough rescue boats around.
The importance of understanding roles and responsibilities associated to the primary pillars of health, fire and safety is made clear here

1. Legal
2. Financial 
3. Moral 

Nature and Fire

The strength of the elements is always humbling and our respect of that strength is our only saving grace 

Woman Throws Kids Out Of Window To Escape Blaze

The need to keep a clear escape route is reemphasized in this case, where a mother had to throw her kids to safety from the approaching fire. Always be aware of your surrounding, think fire safety

Fire Safety Quiz

What is wrong with this picture?

Fire Rescue, Close call

Fire fighters, doing what they do best and saving the life of a construction worker..

I wonder what caused the fire in the first place.

Fire Alarm Test

Fire Alarm Test; what do you know 

The fire alarm test is not the same as the fire drill, which is often executed every six months simulating a real emergency, the fire alarm test is a test carried out weekly by a responsible person as part of the maintenance schedule to ensure that all the manual call points are working and will be active in an emergency. The test is a 10 second ring of the fire alarm through the activation of one of the manual call points in the building, after which the fire alarm panel is checked for accurate reading of the location of the manual call point trigger and the sounders. 

• Before carrying out the weekly fire alarm test, a notice should be placed at the front reception located at a strategic place to enable awareness of the fire alarm test. 

• Email could be sent to each tenant or employee to inform them about the test 

• Team leaders could be used to reinforce awareness of the fire alarm test taking place 

• The reason for the advance information or notification is so people do not panic when they hear the alarm go off. 

• The 10 second ring limit is also to ensure that the employees or tenant are aware that if the alarm rings more than 10 seconds then the alarm is signaling a real emergency and emergency procedure steps are to be followed in evacuating the building 

• All the weekly fire alarm test should be recorded to form part of the management tools of proactive preventative measures adopted 

• The recording should include the time and location of the manual call point and any observation harvested from the fire alarm test. 

Ultimately it is better to know the systems are all working than to wait and find out in a real emergency. 

1. Place a Notice of the test out for public knowledge 

     2.  Place the Fire Alarm Panel onto Test Mode 

      3.  Locate the Manual Call Point 

     4.  The Manual Call Point 

        5. Insert the Test Key in the Manual Call Point to trigger the alarm

• Press the silence button on the Fire Alarm Control Panel after 10 seconds
• Read the location on the panel and make sure it corresponds to the test area
• Press reset on the Fire Alarm Panel after the information has been gathered
• Turn the Fire Alarm Panel from test mode
• Record findings

Some Fire Alarm Panels are connected to a central monitoring location, who then monitor the fire alarm, if such system is in place, the central monitoring location will have to be informed about the weekly Fire Alarm Test for them to place the system onto a test mood as well and then after the test they would have to be informed to remove the system from the test mode. As a safety precaution the central monitoring unit will request a time duration for the fire alarm test, which should be an hour to be safe, after the hour given they central monitoring station presume the system is actively back on line, even if not informed so by the team on the ground caring out the fire alarm test. The team on the ground should however inform the central control station soon after the fire alarm test is over. 

In instances where maintenance work has to be carried out on the fire alarm panel, the central control station must be informed and be given the time duration that the maintenance work will take, if an extension of that time is needed the central monitoring station should be informed about it as well and the central monitoring station should be informed when the work is done, so they can activate the system. 

If the central monitoring station is not informed and the alarm goes off, they will assume it is a real emergency and inform the fire service who would be dispatched to the location, if it turns out to be an avoidable false alarm, the fire service may fine the company in question for waste of resources.

Always know you are safe by the proactive measures you put in place, just don't assume you are safe.. 

Emergency Evac Chair

Lift and Fire:

The golden rule is Do Not Use Lift, In Case of Fire, reason being the lift is pulled up and down by a reinforced  steel wire, however the property strength of this steel wire us made redundant in a fire incident, simply because the average temperature of a burning fire goes up to 1000 Degrees celsius, however metal can be soft at 600 Degrees celsius hence at the burning temperature of a room or building there is a high chance that the steel wire would not be able to hold the weight of the lift. To add to this, the lift may dysfunction and open on a floor already engulfed by the fire, this makes lift very dangerous to get into if there is fire in the building. The only option given in this case is that of a fireman's lift, which is encased in fire resistance enclosed structure. 

Going down, the stairs which in this case is the best option is no mean feat for the physically fit and healthy, but it is what has to be done, however when considering that of an incapacitated or disabled individual that becomes a real strangle. It is a health and safety risk to carry someone on your back or otherwise descending the stairs in an emergency due to the risk of fall to both parties.

Evac Chair 

The Evacuation chair is designed and built to be used on stairs in cases of emergency to move the individual out of harms way, at the same time not putting the person assisting the disabled individual or others at risk. As can be seen below the dimensions of the evac chair is given as 

Height 36"

Length 20.5"

Breath of 8" 

The Evac chair can be hanged close to the point of exit on each floor next to the escape stairs to allow for easy access. 

 Individuals must be trained on how to use the Evac Chairs on the stairs to ensure appropriate and safe use in cases of emergency, it should be noted that when we refer to disable in this literature we are not only highlighting people with permanent disability but also, individuals who may in the emergency scenario fall or hit their heads making them temporarily disabled, also pregnant women would fall in this bracket. The permanently disable may have a while chair that fits into the lift, but would not function well because of the design on the stairs 

The location of the Evac Chair must be signed to allow for easy identification in an emergency and to help direct the individual to the point of position.

High-rise Building:

Every high-rise building such as :

Office buildings

Hotels 

Shopping mall 

And others with more than a ground floor, should have an Evac Chair positioned at an advantage point to be used in an emergency 

Fire Safety, Office Environment

Fire Safety Office Environment Required Installation 

• Fire Extinguisher Location
• Emergency Information 
• Emergency Escape Plan 
• Fire Extinguisher Type Information 
• Fire Extinguisher 
• Running Man Emergency Lighting 
• Mechanized Door Closer 
• Fire Rated Visibility (see through)
• Fire Door Keep Shut Sign 
• Fire Safety Door Push (towards direction of travel)
• Fire Resistance Door Strips (inserted at the edge of the door)
• Kick Plate 
• Electrical Service Door

Click on the picture to enlarge

Note: As well as the specification listed above

1. A fire alarm unit is required 
2. Fire Safety Induction training for

•  Employees
• Visitors 

    3.  Fire Emergency Evacuation Drill 

    4.  Weekly Fire Alarm Manual Call Point Test 

    5. First Aid Box

    6. Fire Marshals 

    7. First Aiders 

Types of Fire Extinguisher and Use

Do you know what type of fire extinguisher you have in your home or office, are you aware of what types of fire you can fight each fire extinguisher with..Lets see below and be educated.

Click picture to enlarge 

Fire Safety Video for Kids with SteveSongs & Sparky the Fire Dog

A domestic fire escape plan should be prepared by every family and a regular drill carried out to ensure everyone knows what to do in case of fire, the video below helps to make it fun to know what you are suppose to do, 

Fire Escape Plan

1. Get up and walk don't run, but walk briskly        

2. Know two ways out of every room                    

3. Get outside quickly                                            

4. Go to the outside meeting place with your family 

NBC TODAY Show: Kitchen Fire Safety, Apr. 23, 2007