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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

Common Causes of Commercial Fires and How you can Help Prevent them

5/10/2022 (Permalink)

Commercial fires can be devastating and deadly.  Because many commercial buildings are attached to one another, a small fire can end up doing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.  From destroying structure to business equipment to family members lives, fires are not to be underestimated or forgotten about.  Fire safety in commercial buildings is a topic that should be of priority when training employees and maintaining the building and facilities.  Some common causes of commercial fires include heating sources and HVAC, cooking, smoking on the property, and electrical malfunctions/ wiring.  Over 90% of commercial fires are caused by one of these 4 factors. 

To avoid Heating/ HVAC fires, get your system cleaned and maintained properly and frequently.  Debris in ducts, or malfunctions in the units can cause fires to start quickly.  Have a routine inspection done of the complete heating system of the facility to prevent fires from starting this way.

To avoid cooking-appliance fires, practice safe cooking techniques.  Of course, for Restaurants, Chef training is required and employees should practice fire safety and be reminded of proper training when it comes to fire safety and cooking often.  For Offices, break rooms normally have a variety of cooking appliances.  These appliances should be replaced frequently and inspected regularly.  This will lower the risk of a fire caused from a cooking appliance, in a commercial building.

To avoid fires from smoking fires, no smoking on the premises would be preferred.  If employees and or customers want to smoke, having a smoking section outdoors and away from the building is the most reasonable way to prevent fires from smoking tobacco products.

Similarly, to Heating and HVAC fires, electrical fires can be prevented by frequent inspections of electrical wiring throughout the building.  This may be a tedious task, but a fried or burnt-out wire can cause a fire in just an instance. 

Fire safety in commercial buildings is nothing to joke about as it can cause some devastating results. If a fire does occur, call 540-373-7000.  SERVPRO of Fredericksburg specializes in Fire Restoration and can make it “Like it never even happened.” 

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