Spate of fires in recent days demonstrates unpredictable threats to safety

Just when a business is tempted to conclude that they can put off that expenditure on a fire extinguisher service for a few more months, comes a reminder of the potential consequences of failing to keep up with the very highest fire safety standards - or rather, several reminders. The truth is that fire can strike at the least predictable of times, with differing levels of risk to life and property. If one needed any evidence of that, they only needed to read the news for the last few days alone.

Across the UK, more fires have been causing widespread damage and loss, although mercifully, injuries and deaths appear to have been kept to a minimum. One only needs to look to Norfolk for an example of just how unforeseeable a fire can be, with an actual fire engine and fire station having been destroyed in a blaze overnight in Downham Market. In a demonstration of how even the fire services themselves aren't immune to fire affecting their own property, this conflagration started in the bay housing the station's fire engine, and needed to be tackled by crews from other areas. Although nearby houses were momentarily evacuated, nobody was hurt.

Another reminder of just how vital a fire extinguisher service can prove was a fire that broke out in an Essex church, causing the evacuations of homes and leaving five people in need of treatment for the effects of smoke inhalation. The fire was out by 05:38 on Monday morning, less than an hour and a half after it was reported, although that was still sufficient time to damage a quarter of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Northview Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea.

Meanwhile, in Burscough in west Lancashire on Tuesday morning, reports emerged of a large fire at the empty Burscough Mill in Mill Lane. Although the fire was out by breakfast time, having broken out at around 03:00 GMT, it still required the attention of more than 60 fire-fighters, in addition to the evacuation of some 100 homes.

At the opposite end of the country, meanwhile, in Dartmouth, Devon, an almost 70 year old pleasure boat sustained damage in a fire on an estuary. Putting out the fire on the 51ft (15.5m) charter vessel in the Dart Estuary was a big job, forcing the attendance of Dartmouth fire crews, coastguard rescue teams and two lifeboats, particularly as in the words of Dartmouth harbourmaster Rob Giles, "It kept re-igniting. It had 700 litres of diesel on board and it's a wooden vessel."

Clearly, then, fire safety remains a vital priority as businesses and private individuals of all kinds head towards the summer. Triple Star Fire is happy to assist such firms by providing the most extensive fire safety services and products, including the most suitable fire extinguisher service.

Editor’s Note: Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.