FIRE SAFETY IN A RESTAURANT

Fire Safety in a Restaurant

Fire Safety in a Restaurant

Task One

Since earliest days of mankind, fire has been both the friend and the foe. To induce fire, three basic ingredients need to be present. These ingredients are oxygen, which must be at least 16 percent of atmosphere to support combustion; fuel, in solid, liquid or gaseous form, in sufficient concentration to the form the combustible mixture with oxygen; and heat that must be sufficient to ignite combustible gases, and solid and liquid fuels. If one of these ingredients is removed, combustion will not occur (Watson, 2000). Restaurant facilities, characterized by use of fire in their daily activities, pose inherent fire risks as large numbers of people may gather at one time to consume food. In this paper, by “restaurant facilities” we mean all establishments that use gas or electric cooking appliances and serve food, such as cafés, pizzerias and delis.

In USA, an estimated 7,100 restaurant fires were responsible for 108 civilian fire injuries and an estimated $116 million in property loss in 2002 (US Fire Administration, 2004). The fire that started in deep fat fryer of the St Petersburg, Florida restaurant on August 2, 2001 is an example of these fires. The fire caused $50,000 in damage. The restaurant was three months overdue for routine cleaning of its chimney and hood, which also ignited and fueled flames (Minai, 2001). Another example of the fire incident in the restaurant took place on January 1, 2001 where an early morning fire at the fast food restaurant in Columbia, Missouri caused $900,000 in damage. The fire, which was caused by grease-laden vapors in an exhaust hood over the charbroiler, took about three hours to control. Firefighters used 100,000 gallons of water by time fire was under control (US Fire Administration, 2004).

Fire safety has three major objectives. The first objective, “prevent ignition of building materials and contents”, involves controlling ignition sources, controlling fuel characteristics, and controlling fuel/heat interaction by maintaining adequate separation. The second objective, “control fire development”, involves detecting fires by means of heat, smoke and flame detectors, controlling combustion, and limiting rate of development and spread of fire. The third objective, “protect exposed”, involves notifying occupants of building, providing avenues for egress, and protecting in-place occupants (Watson, 2000).

Fire is the significant exposure in restaurants, making fire prevention the critical and necessary activity for management. A fire prevention plan should consider property protection, life safety from fire, and fire safety planning.

A fire protection and prevention program should address following factors:

The contents of building and its furnishings.

The installed fire protection systems.

The quality and frequency of maintenance of fire protection systems, cooking appliances, ventilation systems, refrigeration systems, and heating/air conditioning systems.

Housekeeping and operating practices.

Emergency preparednessFire Detection, Alarms, and Suppression

Restaurants are susceptible to fires originating in kitchen areas involving cooking operations and associated equipment. Deep-fat fryers may use combustible cooking oil. Cooking operations may create grease buildup in hoods and ducts, which can ignite and cause the fire ...