On average, people tend to assume that they’re safe from fire. Fire risks don’t take up a lot of head space while we’re thinking about our work, our families, our friends or what’s for dinner. Our offices have fire exits and emergency gathering points marked. We may even have Health & Safety officers appointed and practice the occasional fire drill. But how safe are we really?
According to Wynand Engelbrecht, Fire Chief at Fire Ops SA, we may not be as safe as we think we are. “There are two challenges we face as fire services professionals,” he says. “One is that fire risk and safety awareness has diminished somewhat over time, so that people are much less aware of what fire risks there are around them. The second is that technology has moved forward rapidly over the last 10 years – from solar power generation to lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles – but fire safety technology hasn’t advanced at the same pace.”
Keeping up with climate tech
Lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles pose a major new challenge for fire fighters, as there is no way to extinguish these fires once they start. “They burn much hotter than say, diesel fires, and they give off extremely poisonous gasses. None of the fire extinguishers on the market today can put these fires out, and even if they could you shouldn’t be going near enough to use them – with or without fire protective gear,” Wynand explains. (Learn more about this here[EP1] .)
Wynand points out that governance often follows innovation. This means that regulations for keeping new technology safe – such as the PV solar and lithium-ion battery back-ups that are replacing diesel generators around the country – don’t exist yet. “We’re seeing 5 or 6 solar-related fires a month in our areas of operation,” Wynand says.
Our own worst enemy
But new technology is not the only fire risk we face. More often, the biggest risk is us. “Gas cylinders that are not stored, connected or used correctly – especially outdoor patio heaters used indoors – account for 25 fires per season in winter,” he explains. “Load shedding related fires – caused by forgetting to turn off appliances like hair straighteners and irons when the power goes out – are common.”
A lack of public awareness about fire risks, what to look out for at home or at work, and how to prevent them leads to 5 or 6 lives lost in the Johannesburg inner city every month. The buildings we live and work in are seldom the problem – by law they must be equipped with fire safety doors, clearly marked exits, evacuation routes, fire extinguishers and so on. More often, fires result from people’s behaviour and goods being stored improperly.
“If you’re shopping in your local grocery store and the safety doors or exits are blocked with stock trolleys, that’s a fire safety risk that is easily prevented by moving the trolley out of the way,” Wynand says, by way of example.
So, what can be done to mitigate these everyday fire risks? “We need to overcome our willingness to sacrifice our safety for security,” Wynand says. “By that I mean, we have a tendency to prioritise security measures that prevent theft over measures that prevent loss of life.” One example is the fairly common practice of locking fire safety doors to prevent thieves from gaining access to the building. But if a fire does break out, how do employees escape? “Life must trump laptop,” Wynand says.
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) training and personal accountability is key to combat unfamiliarity and complacency. Proper H&S awareness and training for staff, and encouraging people to speak up when they see something that looks unsafe, is important, too.
And what about those new technologies? How can we deal with those? “Prevention is better than cure at this point,” Wynand says. “Just don’t let the lithium-ion batteries in your cell phone, tablet, back-up battery installation or UPS overheat. Don’t charge anything while you’re sleeping or on a flammable surface, keep it ventilated, and keep the exits unimpeded in case you need to leave the room in a hurry.”
About Fire Ops SA
Fire Ops provides private Fire Fighting services to supplement the municipal services available. The company services private subscribers, particularly in industrial and commercial protection, provides professional consultations on behalf of insurers to evaluate building safety from a fire and hosts one of only two fire training centres in Gauteng with a permit to create fires for training. Learn more.