Fire Safety 101

    What is a fire strategy? Necessary in complex builds and commercially functioning buildings, a fire strategy is simply a general plan that outlines how best to implement fire safety best practices, in the event of a fire. A fire strategy, in short, is a summary of the “what” you will do in the event of a fire, whereas fire safety products themselves – such as fire curtains – are the “how” you will get that “what” done. A complex building includes builds that feature interconnected individual building segments and facilities, for example, a housing complex (flats), hotel, shopping mall or hospital would all fall into this category. A building’s strategy usually comes in the form of a document report that, along with detailed and to-scale evacuation drawings, clearly states the appropriate evacuation routes, the building’s fire safety features, their specifications and how they should be used – if they do not automatically deploy. Why Your Busin...

Fire safety curtains have become more commonplace at commercial buildings in the past decade. While curtains have been used extensively, most curtain use for commercial settings was limited to theaters. While the use of curtains evolves in commercial settings, for others - including fire department personnel have expressed frustration in knowing exactly which standards apply. A fire safety curtain, also known as a fire curtain barrier or active fire curtain barrier system, is a fire-separating element designed to automatically deploy upon receiving a signal from a smoke protection device, gravity-deploy on a loss of power or sensor to; Protect escape routes without any loss of fire resistance and to limit smoke entry into these routes i.e, to protect corridors and lift shafts. Compartmentalise a building – a fire curtain will deploy to effectively confine a fire. As an important lifesaving system designed to provide protection from fire, the fire curtain is a...

At any given time, fires can occur and cause disruption in communities or organisations. For example, fires can create chaos and interrupt people’s access to personal things and other resources. Measures to deal with disasters need to be in place to reduce damage in emergency situations. The rise of disasters in South Africa has increased the need for fire management strategies and there is a high demand for professionals in this field. There is an urgent need to overcome natural disasters and promote danger alleviation. According to the National Disaster Management Centre , the hazards include bad weather conditions, drought, cyclones and severe storms that have the potential to cause devastation. The country’s coastline and proximity to shipping routes also pose a threat to humanity and resources. People that live in impoverished areas are more vulnerable to threats that range from water shortages, floods, and other damaging weather conditions.    A ...

Fire risk assessment is an organised look at what, in your work activities and workplace, could cause harm to people from fire. It will help determine the chances of a fire occurring and the dangers from a fire that the workplace poses for the people who use it. Its purpose is to determine whether existing fire precautions are adequate and reasonable relative to the overall risks presented or if it requires reduction via control measures. The process of fire risk assessment involves the systematic evaluation of the factors that determine the hazard from fire, the likelihood that there will be a fire and the consequences if one were to occur. The harm potential from a fire hazard depends on the potential for development of a fire originating from the hazard and then the potential consequences in terms of life and/or property loss. Determining the potential for harm requires the assessor to make a judgment on the possible outcome of the hazard. The potential for ignition...

Fire and weather conditions have given the residents of George, Southern Cape,   little chance for a breather and to save what's left of their belongs as the fire claimed 8 lives. Destruction More than 16,000 hectares of vegetation and forest have been reduced to ash while more than 400 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze. According to online sources, the Western Cape Environmental Affairs MEC, Anton Bredell says this is not the first big fire that they've had – it’s the seventh big fire in two weeks and the region also lost about 2,500 informal houses. The fires have largely been contained, although the main concern right now, according to sources, is the De Vlugt area, about an hour out of George where a blaze remains volatile. Maintenance and care of fire protection system The goals of fire prevention are to prevent loss of life, property damage and downtime in use of a building. Fires often cause disruption of business activiti...