Fire Safety and How to Exit/Escape a Building during a Fire Incident

Escaping from a life-threatening fire is easier in a regular house because there are several exit ways. However, when it comes to building, residential or commercial spaces, there has to be proper fire safety and exit plan, arrangements, and sensors and alarms. Many buildings have special fire exit corridors for disabled and physically challenged people, while others implement emergency exit lights.

But having only one kind of fire safety and escape arrangement isn’t enough to keep everyone safe, especially if the fire is large. Keeping this in mind, we have illustrated the procedure to escape the building in case of a fire and the different types of arrangements that should be installed.

Fire exit or escape infrastructure in any building

There are several ways in which a proper fire exit or escape infrastructure can be planned. This section will discuss the exact way to create a solid and foolproof fire escape infrastructure for commercial and residential buildings.

  1. Every building should have emergency exit staircases at all levels. There should be a minimum of two such staircases so that people can rush out of their respective floors from either direction without creating chaos or a stampede.
  2. The use of emergency exit lights at the gates and the staircases are also important. These emergency lights start glowing once fire or smoke is detected in close vicinity. Sometimes, the lights come with directional arrows to help people know where to escape the building.

    Emergency exit lights
  3. The building management team must establish appropriate protocols and regulations during a fire exit or escape.
  4. Implementation of alarm and alert systems is also required to complete the fire safety infrastructure in both residential and commercial buildings. It can be a smoke detector alarm, a fire alarm with loud noise output, or the appropriate placement of CCTV cameras to catch any fire in the footage.
  5. Every single level or floor should have multiple placards showing the evacuation routes from the building to the external or ground or a safe place in case of a fire.
  6. Apart from this, the buildings must have appropriate fire safety and suppression systems. These systems should be based on different fire sources, like electric fire, fire in the server rooms, kitchen fire, and many more.
  7. There should be an emergency response team capable of handling situations like these and leading people out of the building to a safe place without any chaos. Apart from this, every team member must know all the protocols and regulations for firefighting and safe evacuation plans.

Proper decorum is to be followed for exiting the building during a fire

There is proper etiquette that people should follow while exiting the building during any fire. Following are some of the facts that should be known.

Emergency exit lights dubai
  • a) Use of an escalator or elevator during a fire is strictly prohibited.
  • b) Instead of creating chaos, people should form queues and exit the building following the emergency exit lights.
  • c) As soon as the alarm sounds, all the electrical checkpoints should be switched off, and people must get out of the building at the earliest.
  • d) There should be a special exit or escape path for physically challenged and disabled people.

Conclusion

This article explains the proper way to form a fire safety and escape infrastructure, whether by establishing appropriate protocols or using emergency exit lights in different building areas. Apart from this, we have also stated the four most important facts to maintain decorum during exiting the building. To get expert advice on fire accidents and escape plans, visit Resco.ae.

When are Fire Suppression Systems Required?

A fire that’s spreading fast is difficult to control, especially when the environment is laden with combustible materials, like chemical tanks, explosives, gas cylinders, etc. Most commercial and industrial areas require appropriate fire safety systems to ensure smoke and fire detection is done correctly and the flame’s spread can be stopped easily.

Although there are several types of fire safety systems, it is the fire suppression system that acts most efficiently. Ideally, such a system establishes dysconnectivity between the flame and the fire source, thereby limiting the spread and protecting the assets and other people within the compound. In this article, we have discussed the times and areas where different establishments, like the server room or kitchen hood fire suppression system, are required.

Areas where fire suppression systems are needed

In this section, we have explained some of the areas where different fire suppression systems are used and their role.

  1. Restaurants and commercial kitchens: One of the primary areas where the kitchen hood fire suppression system is used is the commercial kitchen. As multiple burners are being actively used and the gas pipelines are also of commercial grade, any spark or smoke can cause a huge accident, from blowing up the entire kitchen or leading to a gas pipe explosion.
  2. Commercial automobiles: Oversized commercial vehicles, like trucks, cranes, and others, operate on highly combustible fuels. Even a small fire or spark in the engine or the oil tank can cause a huge blow-up, injuring the operator and other people close to the vehicle. That’s why commercial vehicle fire suppression systems are often used in these vehicles as a major safety measure.
  3. Industrial manufacturing and fabricating units: Industrial fire suppression systems are used in manufacturing and fabricating plants. For instance, steel plants often implement a fire suppression system to contain the flames and detect the smoke on time. Similarly, factories where chemicals, paints, and other combustible materials are manufactured also require industrial-level fire suppression systems.
  4. Storage facilities: The fire suppression system is also used in different storage facilities, from food storage units to chemical storage facilities. Any place where combustible materials are stored or extensive systems are used to preserve the materials requires an appropriate storage facility fire suppression system.
Kitchen Hood fire suppression system

Types of fire suppression systems used

Three different fire suppression systems are classified based on the element used to cut off the source and contain the flames and smoke spread. Following are the three categories in which is specific fire safety system is classified.

  1. In any place where grease or oil is the source of fire, liquid chemicals like potassium bicarbonate, potassium acetate, and potassium citrate are used. The kitchen hood fire suppression system is the best example of where wet chemicals are used.
  2. Places with live electrical systems and combustible chemicals need dry chemicals to suppress the fires, like solid potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and mono ammonium phosphate.
  3. Special agents like FM200, carbon dioxide, Inergen, and 3M Novec 1230 are used in certain fire suppression systems.
Kitchen Hood fire suppression system

Conclusion

This article explains the areas where appropriate fire protection establishment is required, like the kitchen hood fire suppression systemin restaurants and commercial kitchens or the hazardous chemical fire suppression system in chemical storage and lab facilities. Based on these illustrations, you can easily decide where to install the fire safety system and keep everyone and their assets safe. To get the best fire suppression systems, Visit Resco.ae.

Founded in the year of 2009, RESCO electro mechanical LLC is involves for all the electro mechanical work installation services especially in the life safety and security systems design engineering, supply and installation, test and commission the complete system as per the client requirements.

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