I am as guilty as the rest but would not wish to put a dampener on this celebration of blue summer skies. Lord knows they are few and far between.
When you head outside to begin grilling, I urge you to brush up on a few fire safety tips before lighting up.
First, choose the right location for the barbeque well away from the house and any potential combustible structures like garden sheds, pergolas and awnings.
Then make sure your grill pan is fit for use and has not rusted through during the long winter.
Gas fuelled grills cause more accidental fires than charcoal so check all connections and hoses for leaks before lighting. If it doesn’t light first time wait a few seconds for the unlit gas to dissipate before retrying.

Don’t be tempted to add other fuels to charcoal grills to give them a boost. Throwing lighter fuel on will create a fireball.

Take ownership of the Barbeque once lit and set an exclusion zone for the toddlers.

Modern barbeques with hoods can get very hot when closed and have the potential to ignite the cooking fats from the feast.  If this happens turn off the gas if you can, and throw a fire blanket over the grill. You can also use a Class F fire extinguisher such as the synergy ABF if things really get out of hand, but as a last resort as it will ruin your food.

Enjoy the summer and I hope the Barbe gets a good outing.

Don’t forget that when all is done dispose of the charcoal embers safely - don’t throw them in the trash bin. Better to let them burn out safely in the grill tray and then do what I do, throw the white ashes on the garden. Seems to make my plants grow better anyway.

Tony

I raised this issue here some months ago to warn that the enforcement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO) was moving up the agenda with our Fire and Rescue Services.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) brought the prosecution following two small fires in three weeks at the Shell Centre on York Road, Waterloo following which Fire Officers found extensive breaches of the new legislation, including blocked escape routes and fire exits, defective fire doors and excessive fire loading. Shell pleaded guilty at the Inner London Crown court to three breaches of the RRO. It was the largest fine imposed thus far under the measure. The company was also ordered to pay £45,000 in costs.

If you are unlucky enough to have a fire incident on your premises that requires the attendance of the Fire Services you can expect them to put out the fire, but also be prepared for them to scrutinise your fire safety provisions with a fine tooth comb for non conformance with the RRO. And at just the moment when you think things can’t get worse!!

If any of you out there are saying to yourself “what the blazes is the RRO” (pun intended) take a look at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051541.htm It’s a great URL and a great read.

Of course the prospect of exacting juicy fines is bound to encourage the enforcers and those that enforce the enforcers, however I think more central investment in communicating the key RRO provisions to the mass of small business owners out there without a degree in Government speak would be an appropriate quid pro quo. If only.

Tony

So the scenario is the man of the house arriving home late and hungry after a few glasses of the amber nectar and putting on the chip pan for a late supper. Nodding off in front of the Telly, overfilling the pan with oil or throwing in handfuls of soaking wet chips or any combination thereof and you have a disaster in the making.

The advice as always from the Fire service is don’t panic - get you and yours out of the building and call the Brigade. Seems logical and is logical  - but standing by whilst your hand crafted limed oak kitchen is consumed to ashes is not a natural human reaction.

What can you do? Well obviously the above - I would not wish to denigrate the professionals advice  - but you can take some positive action and possibly limit the damage if you are prepared. Have a fire blanket in the house - easily accessible and close to the hob. Throwing this over the fire before it gets too big will smother it. Turn off the heat source and leave it for at least 20 minutes to allow the oil to cool below flash point.

You could also invest in a wet chemical extinguisher or the new ABF foam extinguisher both of which are designed specifically for fires in chip pans and deep fat fryers and are small enough to mount discreetly behind a cupboard door. They are designated by BSI as Class F extinguishers for the technically minded.
What you can’t do is throw water over the burning pan - it will explode. A wet tea towel used to be de rigueur but no longer - tests show that if it is too wet it will cause an eruption that will blow it clean off and if too dry it will burn just as well as the kitchen cabinets, so grannies be warned this is no longer the accepted wisdom.
Don’t use any other type of fire extinguisher but a Class F on the fire - they simply don’t work and water will make it 10 times worse - immediately!!
And finally if you have had a skin full and its 4am in the morning - rustle up a cheese and pickle sandwich if you are peckish. The worst that can happen is that you cut your hand off.

Tony

The aptly named Synergy is an ABF rated extinguisher. That’s Class A, Class B and Class F which interprets as effective on extinguishing solid combustibles like wood, coal and paper, flammable liquids - most notably petrol and other flammable hydrocarbons and best of all cooking oils and fats where it has a 25F rating. This equates to putting out a burning deep fat fryer of around 25 litres capacity - big enough for some canteens and mobile catering outlets never mind a domestic kitchen.

If you think of the most common sources of household fire then the Synergy ABF has it covered. It is also a foam solution not a dry powder so makes less mess when used and is safe to use on fires involving live electricity. Taken together you have to concede it’s impressive credentials.

At 2 litres it’s compact and has practical application for boats, caravans, cars and vans in addition to domestic kitchens and catering outlets. Up to now Wet Chemical was the only true Class F extinguisher but they perform poorly on Class A fires unless you go for the large 6 litre version and have no Class B rating at all.

So there you are - overt plug or not - I see bringing the Synergy ABF to your attention as my civic duty!!!

Tony

I was down there within the hour and could not believe the scene. The van was totally destroyed - not a shred of anything that could burn was left - just a gutted shell with doors blown off, tyres melted to the ground and even the glass reduced to nothing. The van was not only adjacent the house but also adjacent their car and the heat had melted the grill, bumper and headlights. Both waste bins were melted forming grotesque shapes worthy of a Tate Modern exhibit. The uPVC kitchen window was partly melted and the glass cracked. If it was not for the neighbour who banged ceaselessly on the door to raise the alarm and thought to call the fire service, the fire could easily have entered the house within minutes.

They were also very lucky that the mains gas inlet valve which was literally 3 feet from the fire was housed in a steel cabinet. Everything around it was destroyed by the radiant heat.

Most of us only see news images of fires which tend to be viewed in a detached way without any real concept of the damage caused, the appalling mess that is left behind and the smell that permeates every corner of the house.

The Fire and Rescue Service did a great job and promised to return to fit a smoke alarm for free but I don’t hold out any hope that the Police will nab the perpetrators. Not everyone is fortunate to have a good neighbour who is alert at 4am in the morning, so whatever you do to safeguard your home or business from fire - don’t let it be nothing. Next time it could be you or yours.

Tony

The fire was discovered at around 9.15am in the single storey building housing a workshop at the College - a building that also contained 1200 litres of diesel and 500 litres of hydraulic oil. Fourteen appliances drawn from Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Services, as well as a damage control unit and environmental protection unit were drafted in to help tackle the fire.

Fire crews managed to contain the fire and stop it from spreading to an adjacent bay housing even more fire appliances. The incident was brought under control by around 2.30pm with no reports of injury.

Just goes to show that fire has no respect for anything or anyone, and in what may be an embarrassment for the Fire Service College, we have yet to learn what caused the fire.

By the way figures out this week show that fire related deaths rose for the first time in many a year, up 5% to 476 in the 12 months to 30th June 2008. This despite the fact that overall the number of actual fires continues to fall in all categories.  This worrying reversal of a long downward trend comes on the back of a separate report from the Institute of British Insurers confirming that the cost of fire damage in the UK last year rose by 16% to a record £1.3 billion.

Begs the question really how we end up with more deaths and more losses from fewer fires? Are we seeing the consequences of the Government’s “rationalisation” of the Fire and Rescue Services, reducing both the number of local Stations and Appliances and forcing them to cover huge geographical areas form centralised locations? Mitigating arguments are already being circulated for example blaming the recession for increases in arson related incidents. Fires are fires and large fires start as small fires - but increased average attendance times - a direct consequence of centralisation - give more time for large fires to develop. Seems logical to me!

Tony

Happily this is not the case for homeowners concerned about fire safety.  Since 2004 the Government can,  it is only fair to say (if somewhat unfashionable) claim a success for its initiative to provide £25 million funding for Home Fire Risk Safety Checks (HFRSC) carried out by the FRS and rolled out throughout England to protect the public from fire in their own homes.

An independent report published at the end of March showed lives have been saved and fires prevented thanks to the success of firefighters carrying out Home Fire Risk Safety Checks. 

On the face of it the figures are significant with 53 lives saved - a fall of 57 per cent in lives lost through fires in the home and a reduction in fire related injuries of 888. Overall compared to 2004 the incidence of home fires is down by over 13000.

The fire risk assessment covers all types of fire risk including lifestyle choices like smoking. Central to the initiative is the installation of a smoke detector in every home free of charge and advice on maintenance and simple common sense fire precautions. Thus far some 2.4 million smoke alarms have been installed.

The FRS scheme is still running so if you have concerns - as you should- about fire safety or have a vulnerable relative ask your Fire and Rescue Service for a home fire safety check and get a smoke alarm installed.
 You can also book a Home Fire safety Check on-line at www.fire.gov.uk/Home+safety/

Tony

So for example, a water additive stored pressure extinguisher coded 13A will extinguish a Class A fire of freely burning combustibles of size 13. What the devil is size 13 you may ask? Well it’s definitely not a shoe size but a specific arrangement of combustibles used to test the extinguisher.

Different tests apply to each Class of fire (from A,B,C, D & F) but the rule is the larger the number before the Code letter the bigger the fire (of that Class) that can be extinguished.

Rather than go into detail here I have posted a more lengthy explanation as a PDF which you can view at FPC Datacentre.

By the way there is no such thing as a Class E rating in the UK often thought to cover Electrical fires. Many fires are caused by electrical faults which in consequence ignite other flammables. If an extinguisher is described as “safe to use” on fires involving live electricity it means the suppressant is not inherently electrically conductive so you don’t risk electrocution when combating the fire. In any event a sensible approach is to cut off the power supply to any area where a fire occurs.

Take a look at the fuller article as it could help you decide which extinguisher you need based on the science rather than guess work.

Tony

All you businesses out there should note these failures listed below, as they effectively sum up the responsibilities you are legally bound to deliver to comply with the RRO - or face similar legal action.

Take adequate general fire precautions
Make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to relevant persons
Give effect to appropriate preventative and protective measures
Appoint adequate competent persons to undertake preventative and protective measures
Provide adequate safety training for staff

Would be shoppers will be comforted to know all the failings outlined have been addressed in the period between initial prosecution and judgement and the fire safety provisions within Doncaster Frenchgate Centre have been given a clean bill of health.

Tony

In the Middle Ages a hand held version aptly nicknamed a ’squirt’ began to be used to apply jets of water to fires. The squirt worked rather like a syringe. The nozzle end was dipped into water and a few pints of water then sucked up into the chamber by pulling out the plunger. The charged squirt was then directed at the fire and the plunger pushed home to eject the water. Squirts were used on the 1666 Great Fire of London although as can be deduced from a previous blog, with no measurable effect. Today they survive as a fun if annoying kids toy.

The first version of the modern portable fire extinguisher was invented by Captain George William Manby in 1819, comprising of a copper vessel holding 3 gallons of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution under compressed air pressure. As is usual there is some dispute as according to the Minorities’ Job Bank’s This Month in African American History, Thomas J. Martin an African-American, filed a US patent for the fire extinguisher on March 26, 1872.

Around 1912 Pyrene pioneered the carbon tetrachloride or CTC extinguisher, where the liquid was expelled from a container by hand pump, onto a fire. The CTC vapourised much like modern CO2 extinguishers, controlling the flames by a combination of air exclusion and chemical reaction. The problem was CTC vapour is highly toxic so using them could be more hazardous than the fire itself.

The late 19th century also saw the invention of the soda-acid extinguisher, the thing worked by breaking a vial of sulphuric acid suspended in a cylinder containing a solution of water and sodium bicarbonate. The Bicarbonate apparently neutralised the acid but the subsequent violent reaction expelled the solution under pressure through a tube and nozzle. Can’t see H & SE approving of that today but it effectively marked the start of the cartridge operated extinguisher.

Dr. Percy Julian, another prominent African-American is attributed with inventing the aero-foam extinguisher (for use against gas and oil fires) during World War II and by the middle of the twentieth century the modern type of extinguisher appeared using different extinguishing agents to combat different types of fire with either cartridge pressure or stored pressure expirant.

As a footnote historians have determined that in the 1st Century AD the Romans had approximately 7,000 paid fire fighters. These fire “brigades” not only responded to and fought fires, but also had the authority to summarily punish those who violated fire-prevention codes. The Roman equivalent of the Regulatory Reform Order I guess, but probably with a more corporal style of punishment. At that time the population of Rome is put at around a million people. Today in the UK at the last count we had 55000 fire fighters protecting some 60 million souls’. That’s not counting “non-uniformed” staff and those in government and subservient organisations involved in administration, inspection and enforcement. A lot has changed in 2000 years but have you noticed the helmets are not that different!!

Tony