Essential Summer Fire Safety Tips to Safeguard During Heatwaves
Summertime in Dorset brings beautiful weather and the allure of outdoor activities. However, as beautiful as summertime in the region can be, it’s also a time of heightened fire risks due to heatwaves.
The combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation makes both residential and commercial properties susceptible to fire hazards during heatwaves. Ensuring your property remains safe from fire hazards at all times is important, but it becomes especially crucial during the hot summer months across the South West.
At Dorset Fire & Security, we have been operating in the region for over 15 years, providing reliable security and fire safety equipment to commercial, residential, and public sector premises. With our expertise in fire safety, we understand the importance of taking additional precautions for summer fire safety, helping to keep your property safe and cool even during heatwaves.
In this post, we are relying on our expertise to offer essential summer fire safety tips to protect your home or business during Dorset heatwaves, so you can enjoy a safe summer.
Understanding the Risks of Heatwaves
While the UK is not known for its exceptional warm weather, this does not mean it is completely free of risks. Heatwaves are a common issue during the summer, especially in the South West, and can pose a significantly higher fire risk than any other time of year.
During the summer, heatwaves are common and create dry conditions that increase the likelihood of fires. It is through the combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and dry vegetation that is present during hot summer weather which makes the risk of fires even greater during this time.
These dry conditions, with low winds and limited humidity, can turn a small spark into a dangerous blaze putting all surrounding properties at risk.
Heatwaves put both residential and commercial properties at risk, which is why all premises need to adopt summer fire safety measures during this time.
Summer Fire Safety At Home
Dorset summers can be a beautiful time to be outdoors, enjoying your own garden and being with loved ones. However, with the rising temperatures and dry conditions of heatwaves, there are more fire safety risks present across your home in this season.
Your existing home fire safety likely needs to be adjusted to accommodate for the summer weather and the risk that heatwaves pose, which you can do through the following:
1. Maintain Your Garden
For summer fire safety at home, you first need to pay attention to your garden to reduce fire hazards. The dry conditions and lack of humidity during heatwaves make your garden a high-risk zone for fires.
To reduce this risk, take time to remove dry leaves, branches, and other debris that could potentially fuel a fire across the landscape.
During the summer, regularly cut your grass and trim bushes, as this can also decrease the amount of flammable material around your home.
Storing firewood and combustible materials safely away from your home and outbuildings is an easy yet vital step towards summer fire safety.
2. Safe Use of Barbecues and Fire Pits
Spending time outdoors in the summer usually means entertaining and relaxing with loved ones. Some of the best summer activities are hosting barbeques or spending the evening huddled around a fire pit.
While these can be great times, they also come with fire risks and a higher need for summer fire safety, which is why ensuring you use barbecues and fire pits safely is vital during heatwaves.
When using either barbecues or fire pits, make sure to position them on non-flammable surfaces that are far away from the structure of your home and any flammable vegetation that may be present. Keeping your distance can prevent accidents where the fire may quickly spread across the landscape.
It is also essential to never leave a barbecue or fire pit unattended during gatherings. Once the party is over, make sure to fully extinguish all flames and coals before leaving the area.
3. Fire Safety Installations
Installing and maintaining smoke alarms on every level of your home, especially near bedrooms and living areas, is another pivotal factor in ensuring fire safety at all times of the year, but becomes even more critical during heatwaves.
As the risk of fires is higher during summer heatwaves, now is the perfect time to test your fire alarms and sprinklers to ensure they are functioning as intended. You need to be regularly testing your smoke alarms and replacing their batteries once a year, regardless but the summer can be a reminder to do it now.
Testing fire alarms and ensuring they have full batteries can save lives, allowing for early detection and evacuation during fires.
As well as regularly testing fire alarms and sprinklers, now may be the time to consider replacing them. Each unit should be replaced every ten years to ensure optimal effectiveness, and this summer may be the time.
Summer Fire Safety Tips for Businesses
Businesses also need to adopt measures to address the fire risks of heatwaves and enhance their summer fire safety, whether the premises will be empty or not.
The following business summer fire safety tips should be carefully considered:
1. Conduct Regular Fire Risk Assessments
It is part of UK regulations that regular fire risk assessments should be performed in all public spaces, including businesses.
This means that fire risk assessments should already be performed across your company, as these are essential to identify potential hazards. Summer may be the time to do your next assessment, ensuring your premises can handle the rising temperatures and dryer conditions that come with Dorset heatwaves.
It is also vital, as part of general and summer fire safety for businesses, that appropriate measures such as fire-resistant landscaping and storage of flammable materials are implemented across the premises.
The kind of work that is needed will be highlighted in the fire risk assessment, allowing you to combat any specific risks that may be present at your site.
2. Maintain Fire Safety Equipment
Across the premises, you should have equipment for fire safety as well as accessible fire exits to maintain high levels of summer fire safety.
Businesses need to have accessible and fully serviced fire extinguishers across the premises. Other fire safety tools can include inspected and maintained sprinkler systems, and clear emergency exits which can not only alter to an emergency but allow for a quick and safe evacuation of the site during the worst-case scenario.
Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, fire sprinklers and fire exits are all crucial components of a sound fire safety plan for businesses.
3. Develop Fire Safety Plans
Developing a fire safety plan is also essential for business fire safety, and the higher risk of fires during summer may be the perfect opportunity to conduct another fire drill.
The development of a fire safety plan is only the first step in summer fire safety, as you also need to communicate this to all employees and visitors to ensure everyone understands how to act in an emergency.
As the business leader, you can also enhance summer fire safety by appointing fire wardens. These people will help ensure the safety of all staff members and site visitors during any emergency.
General Summer Fire Safety Tips for All Properties
General fire summer fire safety tips apply to all properties and can be implemented to enhance your protection during heatwaves.
As heatwaves are becoming increasingly common across the UK, and particularly in the South West, it is vital that additional precautions are taken during the summer to prevent fires.
Whether you are a business, public sector, or residential building owner, the following summer fire safety times can be incredibly useful:
1. Proper Storage of Flammable Materials
The proper storage of flammable materials and chemicals is vital at all times, especially during the summer when fires can happen quickly.
The lack of wind, humidity and overall high temperatures can make it easier for fires to catch and spread – which will only worsen when there are flammable materials nearby.
You should store flammable chemicals in a secure, well-ventilated area away from heat sources, and ensure that any fuel containers are tightly sealed and stored in a cool, dry place at all times – especially during heatwaves.
2. Electrical Safety
At any premises, there should be regular inspections of electrical wiring to prevent electrical fires. Electric fires are often caused by overheating, so during the summer avoid overloading sockets or extension cords.
A combination of professional advice and common sense is best when it comes to electrical safety during the summer and this should be implemented at all premises.
It is also highly recommended to unplug appliances when not in use and avoid using extension cords where possible.
If using extension cables outdoors to light heaters or lights, ensure you are using a specialised one that has been designed for strong, outdoor use, and this can prevent overheating.
3. Be Prepared for Emergencies
It is always better to be safe than sorry, which is why prevention is a key element of summer fire safety.
There are various ways that you can be prepared for fire emergencies, no matter where you are based. Keeping emergency kits and fire blankets on hand could prove invaluable in case of emergencies and is a great way to protect employees, family or visitors if the worst should happen.
Fire blankets and fire extinguishers can be used to stop small fires as they break out, and can be essential to preventing the spread of flames during accidents.
4. Communtiy Awareness
During heatwaves, community awareness of fire safety becomes pivotal and it is a team effort to keep the region safe during this time.
Encourage your neighbours, colleagues, and friends to adopt fire safety measures during the summer, as this can make the environment safer for everyone – whether at home, work or public spaces.
You can take summer fire safety a step further by organising fire safety workshops, information campaigns, or volunteering as a fire warden.
Contact Us Today
At Dorset Fire & Security, we are committed to helping you protect your home and business from fire hazards at all times of the year. We understand that fire risks are higher during summer heatwaves and will work with you to enhance your fire safety measures.
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.
