The Wildfire Risk: Why Maintaining Your Fire Safety Management Is Essential For Your Business | ESB

What You'll Learn

This guide is designed for site leadership, facilities managers and health & safety teams who need to understand why a fire safety model built around internal threats is not sufficient when the risk originates outside the building.

• Why external assembly points can become a hazard rather than a place of safety during a wildfire
• The operational triggers and delegated authority needed to move from monitoring to sheltering or controlled evacuation
• How to audit and manage combustible risks on the property perimeter
• Why HVAC and building envelope controls are critical to stopping smoke ingress
• How to stress-test your team's readiness with realistic tabletop scenarios

Detecting an internal fire and establishing a clearly comprehensible route for occupants to exit the premises within a timely manner has historically been the centralised priority. But what if the fire was not internal, but an external threat?

As the increase of wildfires seen across the U.K. this summer demonstrates, the hazard that presents itself outside as a road block in most fire safety checklists is forcing businesses to reconsider their original plans. With this, the chance of guests or staff inadvertently being affected by smoke inhalation, extreme heat, or further danger due to compromised escape routes is heightened, and needs to be re-assessed.

This requires a shift from initial logical procedures that center on external routes to adaptive / dynamic risk management models, focused on internal alternatives.

The Challenges of External Wildfires at an Operational Level

Unique operational vulnerabilities arise with external wildfires in comparison to standard internal fires in terms of strategic methodology. These gaps in safety management are simply not designed to address:

Compromised Assembly Points: Most fire safety protocols center on external rallying points as a method of escape, but with wildfires, this becomes a potential hazard rather than a solution.

Dynamic Hazard Boundaries: The variation of external factors, such as changing winds that may impact the path of fire and smoke, is something that must be newly considered.

Shelter vs. Evacuation: With a wider area of consideration comparatively to indoors, the choice between sheltering in place versus finding a route of clear evacuation may be an elevated concern unique to this scenario.

In order to confirm your operational arrangements are resilient against wildfires, we recommend reanalysing these central areas of consideration across your sites:

Redefine Clear Authority and Operational Triggers

Make sure there are explicit operational triggers that those working on site can review during a fire, with the ability to posture the warning from heightened monitoring to sheltering, controlled evacuation, and so on. Delegated authority to lead these actions, such as on-duty supervisors, ensure clearer decisions-making when senior management is absent. There may need to be a choice made to stay indoors as alternative sheltering instead of initial escape routes planned externally, thus clear communication from operational management will be essential during this decision making process. This consideration should include training night-shift staff as well, as this time itself is at most high risk with low staff cover and sleeping occupancy.

Manage External Combustible Risks

Overview the grounds around the site and reconduct a targeted safety audit that highlights any potential hazards on the property's perimeter. These may include natural hazards (i.e. grasslands, forestry, shrubbery), alongside alternative artificial products (inc. waste compounds, LPG storage, wood-based structures, outdoor furniture, and designated smoking areas). During high-risk windows, it is an essential management plan for strict housekeeping protocols for external boundaries within their responsibility, such as placing a temporary ban on higher risk activities (i.e. BBQ, event fireworks).

Reviewing internal safety units and risk assessments is important at this time too. We suggest making sure all firefighting products are appropriately suitable for usage, and smoke preventive measures are assessed around doors and windows to the property.

Master HVAC and Building Envelope Controls

Rapid smoke logging internally can occur via automated systems within the building. Operations and maintenance personnel must ensure they are trained to immediately respond and isolate external air intakes that may bring this toxic substance into the space. Furthermore, HVAC units for internal recirculation must be in use when smoke threatens internal spaces on the site.

Diversify Evacuation Route Planning

It is essential for personnel to avoid single-route evacuation plans in high risk scenarios, such as an external wildfire threat. Pre-identify alternative routes to highlighted safe zones that account for varying wind conditions and other hazardous material (i.e. vegetation). Constant communication is essential for management to direct occupants through verified routes rather than simple blanket alarm systems, and thus must be prioritised.

Test Scenarios to Improve Stress-Test Preparedness

Though full physical drills may be impractical, brief tabletop scenario-based exercises are key for site management to work effectively in real-life situations. These could be exemplified with scenarios that test realistic operations disruptions during high-stress environments. An example of this may be 'Fire has covered the west side of the property, and the primary assembly area is inaccessible due to smoke, thus the main route of escape is blocked. What is your immediate alternative course of action in this scenario?'

Becoming prepared for external fire safety threats is not about replacing your established internal framework, but rather extending the principles to handle high-risk wildfire threats as our environment changes around us.

Becoming prepared for external fire safety threats is not about replacing your established internal framework, but rather extending the principles to handle high-risk wildfire threats as our environment changes around us. If you require consultation on your external fire safety protocols, our advisory team specialises in reviewing property risk profiles and developing tailored emergency response strategies. Contact us today to arrange a consultation or to review your site preparedness.