Essential Summer Fire Safety Tips
Summertime can be a beautiful time, encouraging outdoor activities, bright blue skies and higher temperatures. However, with the beauty and enjoyment of summer comes an increased risk of heatwaves.
The lethal mix of soaring temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation during heat waves paves the way for fire hazards, threatening residential and commercial properties across the UK.
While fire safety measures are crucial all year round, this increased risk of heatwaves makes them especially critical during the sweltering summer months.
For over 30 years, Axis Fire & Security has been a reliable service provider of security and fire safety equipment to commercial and residential premises across the South of England. With our extensive expertise in fire safety, we understand the importance of adopting extra precautions in summer to ensure your property is safe and cool even amidst heatwaves.
Drawing from our extensive professional experience, we are offering essential summer fire safety tips to protect your home or business during heatwaves.
Understanding the Risks of Heatwaves
Although the UK is not typically regarded for extreme warm weather, it certainly isn’t exempt from the associated risks. Heatwaves are a common summer hazard these days, especially in the South, posing a far greater fire risk than any other time of the year.
Heatwaves create dry conditions that increase the likelihood of fires through the combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and dried-out vegetation. These dry conditions, coupled with low winds and limited humidity, can turn minor sparks into extensive blazes, threatening all nearby properties.
Heatwaves put both residential and commercial properties at risk, making the adoption of summer fire safety measures exceptionally crucial during this period.
Summer Fire Safety At Home
Summers in the South can be delightful, offering the perfect opportunity for outdoor fun in your personal garden with loved ones. However, with the rising temperatures and dry conditions brought on by heat waves, there are increased fire safety risks to your home that you need to address.
Your existing home fire safety measures likely need to be adjusted to accommodate the escalated risk that heatwaves pose, which can be done through the following:
Maintain Your Garden
Begin by focusing on your garden to reduce fire hazards that may be present. Remove dry leaves, branches, and other debris that could potentially fuel a fire. Similarly, ensure you regularly cut your grass and trim bushes to decrease the amount of flammable material around your home.
It is also recommended to store firewood and combustible materials safely away from your home for enhanced summer fire safety.
Safe Use of Barbecues and Fire Pits
Summer recreational activities like hosting barbeques or cosying up around a fire pit also come with fire risks.
During the summer, ensure you use barbecues and fire pits safely, keeping them on non-flammable surfaces when in use. You also need to ensure that these fires are kept at a safe distance from your home’s structure and any combustible vegetation.
You should never leave a barbecue or fire pit unattended, ensuring all flames and coals are completely extinguished after use.
Fire Safety Installations
Installing and maintaining smoke alarms on every level of your home, specifically near bedrooms and living areas, is vital at all times of the year. However, as the risk of fires is heightened during summer heatwaves, now is the perfect opportunity to make some adjustments.
Ahead of the hot weather, make sure to test your fire alarms and sprinkler systems. Regularly testing and replacing the batteries of your smoke alarms can save lives, as it allows for early detection and evacuation during fires.
This should be done regularly during the year and summer is another great opportunity for home testing.
Summer Fire Safety Tips for Businesses
Businesses also need to adopt measures to tackle the fire risks of heatwaves and improve their summer fire safety, whether the premises will be occupied or not.
This can be done through:
Conducting Regular Fire Risk Assessments
UK regulations mandate regular fire risk assessments in all public spaces, including businesses.
Summer is an ideal time to perform your next assessment, ensuring your premises can withstand the higher temperatures and drier conditions.
Maintain Fire Safety Equipment
Maintaining high levels of summer fire safety can be done by ensuring accessible and fully serviced fire extinguishers across the premises.
Inspected and maintained sprinkler systems and clear emergency exits are also crucial components of a comprehensive fire safety plan and should be tested now.
Develop Fire Safety Plans
Develop a fire safety plan and communicate it to all employees and visitors on a regular basis to ensure you are prepared for any emergency.
As the business leader, you can also appoint fire wardens to further reinforce summer fire safety. These wardens are responsible for ensuring the protection of all staff members and visitors during emergencies and can help foster a safer environment for all during the summer, and beyond.
General Summer Fire Safety Tips for All Properties
Some general summer fire safety tips can apply to all properties in the South of the UK. These include:
- Safe storage of flammable materials, such as keeping flammable chemicals in a secure, well-ventilated area away from heat sources and keeping fuel containers tightly sealed and in a cool, dry place.
- Regular inspections of electrical wiring and avoid overloading sockets or extensions, especially during hot days
- Keep prepared for emergencies with fire escape routes, fire blankets and fire extinguishers across the site.
Enhancing Community Awareness
Raising community awareness about fire safety is crucial, particularly during heatwaves which can impact everyone.
For better summer fire safety, encourage neighbours, colleagues, and friends to adopt fire safety measures. You can encourage regular fire testing and ensure that there is safety information in public spaces to reduce the risks of campfires and barbeques spreading.
Working together can help reduce fire risks and ensure a safer environment for everyone, during heatwaves and in all other seasons.
Contact Us Today
At Axis Fire & Security, we are committed to helping you protect your home and business from fire hazards throughout the year.
Our team of experts provides comprehensive fire safety services, including risk assessments, equipment maintenance, and fire safety training. For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact us today.
