The Importance of Fire Protection

Fire protection is an essential investment for any home or business. These systems offer peace of mind, occupant safety and may even save your business from costly insurance claims.

The National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) oversees more than 300 industry-recognized fire safety standards. Codes are legally required at the local, state or industry level and dictate specific guidelines. These are generally enforced through inspections and compliance reviews. Standards, on the other hand, are best practices that don’t require any formal mandates.

These best practice guidelines help prevent accidents and reduce the potential for property loss due to fire. This includes everything from storing flammable materials properly to creating clearly marked escape routes for occupants. While these can be considered proactive measures, it’s not always easy to find the time and resources to perform them consistently. It’s easier to focus on daily operations and forget about the importance of fire safety inspections until something goes wrong.

When something does go wrong, it’s often too late to reverse the damage and keep operations running. Not to mention, the revenue lost from shutdowns impacts businesses negatively and can devastate a brand’s reputation. Investing in fire safety measures prevents downtime, missed deadlines and frustrated customers. It can also save a business money in the long run by protecting their equipment, reducing the cost of replacing destroyed inventory and maintaining a safe working environment for employees.

It’s important to remember that the majority of fires are preventable. In fact, most of them move through the same four stages: ignition, growth, full development and burnout. Fire protection helps to minimize this progression by containing fires, cooling them down, robbing them of oxygen or fuel and/or breaking down their chemical reaction.

The most effective fire protection is a comprehensive system that works to suppress flames, smoke and heat while notifying emergency services. These types of systems are commonly used in high-rise buildings, schools and dormitories and offer the peace of mind that occupants can safely return to their rooms after evacuation. In addition to fire suppression, these systems help to maintain building stability by compartmentalizing the area, and they provide early warning detection that can give occupants more time to evacuate.

As wildfires become more common, it’s important to take preventive measures at home or the office to stay safe. Move all outdoor furniture, pillows, door mats and other combustible items indoors or away from the home, shed and garage to create a ‘defensible space’ cleared of combustible materials for at least 5 feet around structures to help protect against ember ingress. Also, make sure to shut off your gas supply, turn off pilot lights and close the supply valve on a propane tank. If you live in an area at risk for wildfire, monitor news alerts and listen to local weather stations to get the latest information on current threats and how they are progressing. And don’t forget to connect garden hoses and fill any pools, hot tubs or garbage cans with water as a way of minimizing hazard by preventing the spread of fire.