FireArrest surveyed experts to shine a light on the biggest fire risks

Prominent fire stopping business, FireArrest, recently performed a study with a range of fire professionals to understand what, in their experience, are the most common fire risks.

As we all know the management of fire risks within a property is the single most important factor when it comes to saving lives, protecting properties and the contents within them.

The survey looked at three key areas of fire safety:

•  Buildings.
• Liabilities.
• Hidden risks.

When FireArrest asked what kind of building was at most risk of fire, seven out of ten said that the most fire risks were present within private homes.

FireArrest then asked what the biggest fire risks were in terms of materials, 39% said combustible materials, 35% said electrical materials and 23% said vulnerable infrastructure.

Finally, they asked the experts about the most common hidden risks, 31% of the responses agreed that walls and ceilings present the biggest dangers since they aren’t immediately visible. 23% said that entranceways were the biggest hidden fire risk within a property.

Managing and mitigating the risk of fire within a building is key in not only saving lives but preventing severe damage to the structure of the building and the contents within.

For our latest research project, we surveyed a range of active and passive fire industry professionals to shine a light on some of the most common, and often hidden, risks they see on a daily basis.

In our survey, we based our questions around three core areas of fire safety…

Risky Buildings

When we asked fire professionals what kind of buildings presented the biggest fire risk, 7 out of 10 stated that most fire risks are present within residential properties.

Conversely, the safest kinds of buildings appear to be restaurants with only 1 in 10 choosing this kind of building as high-risk.

Biggest Fire Liabilities

The skills of fire professionals are used to inspect properties and assess their vulnerabilities and the risk of fire. In our survey, we asked what the most common outcomes of these inspections are:

• 39% said combustible materials.
• 35% said electrical materials.
• 23% said vulnerable infrastructure.

Other liabilities included kitchen exhaust systems and grease-laden vapours.

Hidden Fire Risks

When asked about hidden fire risks in a building, walls and ceilings were the most common answer, with 31% of our survey audience concurring that hidden risks are usually in these areas as they aren’t immediately visible.

Secondly, 23% of our survey said that entrance ways were the biggest hidden fire risk within a premises.