Causes & prevention of Commercial Fires

5/8/2018 (Permalink)

Commercial Building after the fire

Most Common Causes of Commercial Building Fires

1. Cooking Fires

29.3% of nonresidential fires from 2013 were cooking related. In fact, 1 in 4 office building fires were related to cooking equipment. These fires tend to account for less damage, but are easily preventable with fire protection systems such as alarms and fire extinguishers.

2. Intentional

The second most common cause of nonresidential fires was intentionally started. This accounts for almost 10% of fires, and tends to cause the most damage. Intentional fires also result in more civilian injuries and deaths. Unlike cooking and heating fires, it's most common for intentional fires to be started between 3pm and midnight.

A few common locations in your building to be aware of include:

• Bathrooms
• Trash bins
• Garages
• Open areas like a lawn or field

3. Careless Acts and Human Error

9.2% of commercial fires were unintentional results of careless acts. This is somewhat of an 'other' category. A few examples of careless acts that result in fires:

• Accidentally leaving space heaters or other heat producing equipment on
• Carelessly discarded cigarette butts igniting fires
• Plugging too many things into the same extension cord

4. Heating Fires

Heating fires account for 9% of all nonresidential building fires. Central heating units, fireplaces, water heaters, and other heating appliances and systems should be regularly inspected to prevent fires. It's important to move any flammable materials and furniture away from heat sources, especially in the winter months when the heat is turned on.

How to Prevent a Nonresidential Fire

Run through the items below to see how protected your business is from a fire emergency. There might be something you're missing that could save you thousands of dollars in fire damage and loss.

Fire Suppression and Protection System in Place

• Fire extinguishers - The top cause of commercial building fires is cooking fires, and thankfully, most of these fires are small and contained. A fire extinguisher placed near the kitchen area can give employees the power to stop a small cooking fire from spreading. Make sure your employees are trained in using a few extinguishers. Read this if you're unsure whether or not your fire extinguishers are still in working condition.
• Fire alarms - This may sound obvious, but fire alarms are easily overlooked or left with dead batteries because they're not properly maintained. Not only is a fire alarm system required, but it can save lives and property from damage.
• Commercial fire sprinkler system - A sprinkler system can squelch a potentially deadly fire. The NFPA has no record of a fire killing more than 2 people in a building that was completely sprinkled. Having only 1 or 2 fire sprinkler heads can contain the majority of fires.

Testing and Maintenance

So you have all of the necessary fire protection systems in place. But how well maintained and up-to-date are they? Do you have expired fire extinguishers? Are you following the legal state requirements for getting these systems tested regularly? Make sure you check the local fire code to see what is required of businesses, and set up regular inspections and maintenance.

Install a Commercial Alarm System

No one likes to think that there are people who would intentionally start a fire on their property. Unfortunately, this is a scenario that you need to be prepared for. Invest in a security alarm system that will detect any suspicious activity in the evening hours when the building is most at risk. Keeping the area well-lit at night, or installing motion sensor lights outside, can deter criminal activity.

If you do have a fire please call SERVPRO of Cambridge/Belmont (617) 864-7378