Are you in the middle of forming a plan to keep your home or business safe against fire? Although there was once a time when fire prevention involved a haphazard approach to the environment, today it requires eco-friendly tactics. Thanks to advances in technology, environmentally-friendly fire prevention is easier than ever.
Try mist over water
If your building features a sprinkler system that activates when an alarm system detects fire, it's probably inefficient. Additionally, the widespread use and distribution of water don't do the planet any favours.
Sprinklers use water that spreads in heavy droplets, which means their trajectory is disorganised. In contrast, mist is lighter and spreads over a wider area, giving it a chance to tackle the source of a fire. As it uses less water, it's also kinder to the environment.
Carbon dioxide hydrate fire extinguishers
Carbon dioxide fire extinguishers have been a common feature of the fire prevention market since 2009. CO2 hydrate is made of pockets of water that contain small amounts of CO2. The structure essentially creates dry ice.
When the dry ice-type substance exits your fire extinguisher, it removes two risky elements from the triangle of fire: heat and fuel. The cool temperature tackles the heat, while the CO2 starves the fire of oxygen. To ensure the fire extinguisher you choose is as effective as possible, ask a professional to assess your property so they can determine the correct size.
Choose your flame-retardant materials carefully
While fire extinguishers are excellent at tackling fires after they start, they're not a preventative measure. Depending on the location of your property or the nature of your business, you may want to use flame-retardant materials throughout the building. Such materials can apply to both surfaces and furniture, and when you choose the right ones, they limit the chance of a fire starting as well as its progression.
Try aiming for flame-retardant materials that don't contain brominated substances. Brominated substances readily spread into local ecosystems, and they can even enter human food sources as a result. An alternative to brominated substances is exfoliated clay, which is both cost-effective and excellent at preventing fires from starting and flames from spreading.
Creating an environmentally-friendly fire prevention strategy is simple when you know which products to aim for and which ones to avoid. When installing products, always make sure you ask a fire prevention professional to perform a thorough risk assessment first.