Fighting fire with…petrol

It might sound strange, but petrol can often be the best way of extinguishing a fire. 

Most damage to a building is not caused by the fire itself, but rather in the first few minutes of a blaze – by soot. Many fire detectors are heat-activated, but soot starts forming before the heat has built up. By the time the fire-alarm system cuts off ventilation and starts extinguishing the fire, the soot damage has been done. 

Then, the blaze is tackled in a building which is actually worthless. It might still be perfectly functional according to the insurance firm, but it’s often difficult to restore it to its former state in practice. Soot gets literally everywhere and it is very hard to eliminate the odour. Furthermore, soot damages stainless-steel equipment and switchgear. 

Buildings are inspected for fire separation in line with the building regulations. When effective extinguishing systems are in place it is permissible to create very large spaces. But the question remains whether it is always wise to exercise this right, especially in the case of production areas. A building is evaluated for fire separation, but not for soot separation. A good smoke and fire separation system is relatively inexpensive and can save a lot of misery. Assessing the airtightness/soot-proofness of a building is not a complex process.

And if a fire has started, then we should allow it to burn itself out quickly, cleanly and in a controlled manner by extinguishing it with petrol. That will relieve us of all the mess and leave us with clean concrete slabs which we can use as the basis for constructing a replacement building the very next day.

Do you want to experience soot for yourself? Take a piece of white roof insulation or EPS packaging material – that well-known rigid foam made from polystyrene beads. Place a block measuring 5x5x5 cm on a plate in a small room (such as the downstairs cloakroom). Ignite it and leave the door ajar for guaranteed ‘success’. Feel free to let me know the results of this experiment!

www.bessels.com