Hot and Cold: Top Reasons Fireproofing Is Especially… | Kaloutas

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Hot and Cold: Top Reasons Fireproofing Is Especially Important During Winter

Fireproofing in an industrial facility. Hot and Cold: Top Reasons Fireproofing Is Especially Important During Winter

Fire­proof­ing your facil­i­ty is cru­cial year-round, but it becomes espe­cial­ly impor­tant dur­ing the cold­er months. Refresh your mem­o­ry on the impor­tance of fire­proof­ing your facil­i­ty for win­ter, as well as how Kaloutas can help you. 

The Impor­tance of Fire­proof­ing in the Winter

Increased Risk of Fires in Heat­ed Spaces

You may not real­ize it because the sea­son is any­thing but warm, but win­ter is actu­al­ly one of the worst times of the year for fires. It’s been observed that heat­ing spaces increase the risk of fires. The var­i­ous sys­tems used to heat spaces, from elec­tric to gas, all come with a risk of start­ing and accel­er­at­ing fires. 

In fact, heat­ing, elec­tri­cal, and ven­ti­la­tion sys­tems are among the most com­mon rea­sons for facil­i­ty fires in the win­ter. This some­times results from an out­dat­ed or poor­ly main­tained sys­tem. A fire may be caused by space heaters that over­heat or are placed too close to flam­ma­ble sur­faces, spread­ing flames through­out the build­ing. Elec­tri­cal short­ages can also start fires. 

To make things worse, con­di­tions tend to be dri­er in the win­ter, and a dry atmos­phere makes flames spread even more quickly. 

Peo­ple May Be Less on Guard Dur­ing Winter

The impor­tance of fire­proof­ing your facil­i­ty for win­ter can­not be over­stat­ed, espe­cial­ly since most peo­ple are less on guard in the win­ter months. Many peo­ple make a com­mon assump­tion that fires hap­pen less in win­ter. This mis­con­cep­tion is under­stand­able but false. Ensur­ing your facil­i­ty has prop­er fire­proof­ing reduces the over­all risk, pro­tect­ing your prop­er­ty and your employees. 

Gen­er­a­tors Can Pose a Risk

If your facil­i­ty uses gen­er­a­tors dur­ing the win­ter months, note that this equip­ment pos­es anoth­er poten­tial fire risk. With­out prop­er main­te­nance, gen­er­a­tors can lead to elec­tri­cal issues that can start a fire. Gen­er­a­tors also come with a risk of car­bon monox­ide poi­son­ing, so be care­ful when using them.

Can­dles in Office Areas

Some peo­ple will want to make admin­is­tra­tive areas of the facil­i­ty more fes­tive or cozy dur­ing the win­ter by light­ing can­dles. This is espe­cial­ly com­mon dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son, but it is also fair­ly com­mon dur­ing the rest of the win­ter. How­ev­er, any open flame, can­dles includ­ed, has the poten­tial to spread when unattended.

In addi­tion to prop­er fire­proof­ing, you can elim­i­nate this poten­tial risk by remind­ing all occu­pants not to light can­dles inside your facil­i­ty, no mat­ter the occasion.

The Human Cost of Fires

Regard­less of the time of year, the pri­ma­ry rea­son to fire­proof your facil­i­ty is to pre­vent dam­age to your prop­er­ty, injuries, and even death. A fire that rapid­ly spreads can eas­i­ly injure or kill any­one in the facility. 

When it comes to avoid­ing injuries and death, fire­proof­ing aims to slow down the fire and pre­vent it from spread­ing. This buffer gives your team enough time to evac­u­ate and receive help. It also min­i­mizes the amount of smoke peo­ple are exposed to as they exit the build­ing. Because smoke inhala­tion can be incred­i­bly dan­ger­ous, con­trol­ling the spread of fire and smoke is of utmost importance. 

When you prop­er­ly fire­proof your facil­i­ty, you not only pro­tect all indi­vid­u­als who enter the build­ing – you also decrease the risk of lia­bil­i­ty if some­one gets hurt on your property. 

The Finan­cial Cost of Fires

Even with no one injured, fires can be incred­i­bly cost­ly. Think of all the dam­aged mate­ri­als and equip­ment you might have to replace. Con­sid­er the loss­es due to down­time as you repair the facil­i­ty and get your equip­ment and mate­ri­als replaced. 

You may think your building’s steel beams and oth­er struc­tures are stur­dy enough, but think again. Steel beams are more fire resis­tant than most oth­er mate­ri­als, but they suf­fer extreme dam­age at high tem­per­a­tures. By 1,000 degrees, steel los­es as much as 40% of its strength. By 1,500 degrees, it can lose as much as 90% of its strength. Imag­ine the scale of dam­age that weak steel beams can cause. The aver­age tem­per­a­ture in build­ing fires goes as high as 1,500 to 2,000 degrees, so dam­age to your steel beams is high­ly likely.

Even with fire insur­ance, you can expect to ded­i­cate count­less hours to the admin­is­tra­tive require­ments of mak­ing your claim and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of an increase in your insur­ance premiums.

Win­ter Can Affect Fire­fight­ers’ Response Time

Fire­fight­ers, along with good fire safe­ty strate­gies, are cru­cial to con­tain­ing a fire. How­ev­er, it can be more chal­leng­ing for fire­fight­ers to reach your facil­i­ty in the win­ter. Bliz­zards or ice on the road can affect their response time, leav­ing your facil­i­ty more exposed to dam­age and your peo­ple more at risk of injury or worse.

When the fire­fight­ers final­ly arrive at your facil­i­ty, they may encounter unfore­seen chal­lenges, such as frozen water lines or fire hydrants.

Win­ter Storms Can Increase Fire Risks

In addi­tion to delay­ing fire­fight­ers’ response time, win­ter storms can also increase your risk of fires. For exam­ple, a heavy storm may cause trees to fall or knock over pow­er lines. Open pow­er lines are a par­tic­u­lar­ly large risk, as the elec­tric­i­ty could poten­tial­ly spark a fire. 

Some Solu­tions Can Pre­vent Fire and Pro­vide Insulation

Know­ing these risks, it’s time to con­sid­er fire­proof­ing solu­tions that pro­vide insu­la­tion and pre­vent the spread of fire. Intu­mes­cent fire­proof­ing, for exam­ple, insu­lates your build­ing while deliv­er­ing its unique fire­proof­ing ben­e­fits. When exposed to high heat, these coat­ings expand, cre­at­ing an addi­tion­al bar­ri­er that pro­tects struc­tures and assets from flames for extend­ed peri­ods of time.

Anoth­er good option for inte­ri­or insu­la­tion and fire pro­tec­tion is ther­mal-acoustic insu­la­tion, which should be used with oth­er fire­proof­ing meth­ods. Ther­mal-acoustic insu­la­tion reg­u­lates noise and heat with­in your facil­i­ty. Though it does not direct­ly pre­vent the spread of fires, it can reduce the risk of fires from over­heat­ing. The mate­r­i­al also pro­tects against ther­mal shock, which occurs if your build­ing expands and con­tracts as a result of heat transfer. 

Con­ve­nient­ly, the most com­mon types of ther­mal-acoustic insu­la­tion are com­pat­i­ble with a major­i­ty of fire­proof coat­ings. With fire­proof­ing and ther­mal-acoustic insu­la­tion, you get max­i­mum ben­e­fits and increased safe­ty in your facility. 

Fire­proof­ing Is Part of Compliance

Of course, fire­proof­ing your facil­i­ty is an impor­tant aspect of stay­ing com­pli­ant with local laws. Each municipaltity’s require­ments vary, but you are man­dat­ed to meet at least the min­i­mum fire­proof­ing com­pli­ance guidelines. 

Remem­ber that legal trou­bles can force your busi­ness to close in the most extreme cas­es. That is espe­cial­ly true if word about non-com­pli­ance gets out and hurts your company’s reputation. 

Best Prac­tices for Win­ter Fireproofing

Like any oth­er time of the year, the best method of fire­proof­ing your facil­i­ty will be to con­sult pro­fes­sion­als. They will ana­lyze your space to spot unique risks and inform you about them. Pro­fes­sion­als are also famil­iar with all the applic­a­ble laws, so they can advise you on the best way to fire­proof your facil­i­ty, keep­ing you compliant. 

From there, pro­fes­sion­als can rec­om­mend the best fire stop­ping, fire pre­ven­tion, and fire­proof­ing meth­ods, from intu­mes­cent fire­proof­ing to cemen­ti­tious or ther­mal-acoustic fire­proof­ing. In most cas­es, they will sug­gest a com­bi­na­tion of meth­ods for the best results. 

Final­ly, fire­proof­ing experts will install every­thing prop­er­ly to max­i­mize your pro­tec­tion against fires. They can even help you main­tain your facility’s fire­proof­ing in the future or do reg­u­lar inspec­tions to con­firm the safe­ty of your build­ing. If your fire­proof­ing needs updat­ing, they can pro­vide ser­vices like fire­proof patch­ing or replace your fire­proof­ing to ensure the safe­ty of every­one and every­thing inside your facility.

Com­pli­ance is not an option – nei­ther is safe­ty. You must pro­tect your busi­ness, your assets, your rep­u­ta­tion, and your peo­ple from the dam­age fires can cause. Kaloutas is here to help you do just that (and more). Keep your facil­i­ty safe and com­pli­ant this win­ter and beyond with Kaloutas’ fire­proof­ing services.

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