It is an established fact that over 80 % of the damage caused to business / industry is from fire accidents. Most of this is a direct consequence of the fact that most organizations /individuals think that fire is something that only happens to others. The resultant lack of foresight and crisis planning, coupled with the chaos that follows in the wake of a fire, cause more loss of lives and damage than the fire itself.

A fire has THREE basic elements

•Oxygen

•Fuel

•High temperature

Elimination of any ONE of these three elements will kill a fire. This can be done by

•Starving the fire - ie. remove combustible material.

•Smothering the fire - ie. cut off Oxygen.

•Cooling the fire - ie. bring down the temperature

Fire, like any other Risk, is a function of

THREAT x CRITICALITY x PROBABILITY x VULNERABILITY.

Since THREAT and CRITICALITY are near constants the Fire Risk can be reduced by bringing down the variables of PROBABILITY and VULNERABILITY.

THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT A FIRE IS TO PREVENT ONE.

There are basically FIVE types of fires,

•CLASS A: Fire caused by organic material like wood, paper, cloth etc.

•CLASS B: Fires due to Petrol, kerosene, diesel, paints etc.

•CLASS C: Fires due to Gases.

•CLASS D: Special metallic fires.

•CLASS E: Electrical fires