BBQ and Camping Fire Safety Tips

Our friendly neighbourhood fireman, Mark Altree has kindly given us some fire and camping safety tips to make sure you and the family keep safe in the sunshine!

In the summer months we tend to do more things outside (British weather permitting of course) but being outside doesn't mean we're safer, it simply means the risks have changed!

Camping and caravan holidays are great fun and always popular. Unfortunately – from a safety point of view, some caravans don’t have smoke alarms, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need one!

A working smoke alarm is still the best, simplest and cheapest way of giving you an early warning if somethings wrong, and protecting you and your family from a fire. For around £5 you can halve your chances of being hurt or killed.

Anyone working in the Fire Service will tell you that without any doubt, having a working smoke alarm in your house is essential. Many of us have attended far too many incidents where there wasn’t a working smoke alarm and things never ended well. So please, buy a smoke alarm and take it with you!

To cook while camping you need a heat source of some sort, usually a fire, gas stove or BBQ - and that brings its own risks, not all of them are obvious.

With the great British weather being as unreliable as it always is, there have been incidents already this year where people have used gas burners or BBQ’s in a tent with the tent door closed!

That simple act has tragically proved fatal and families and children have been lost, no doubt many people reading this will have read about these tragic deaths and for some reason these types of incidents seem to be becoming more frequent.

There is particular concern here around the use of BBQ’s the advice regarding the use of a BBQ in doors is simple………. Please Don’t!

A BBQ is designed for outdoor use only and is not safe for use in any enclosed area. There are several reasons for this. Any kind of BBQ indoors, in a caravan, or a tent may start a fire and that’s a risk in itself. It will certainly use the oxygen you need to breathe and produce carbon monoxide. This gas is often referred to as “the Silent killer” because it’s odourless, tasteless and highly poisonous. BBQ’s can continue to produce carbon monoxide even when they appear to be cool.

Any time you use a disposable BBQ, you must make sure that it is cold before disposal, not just put out but cold, they get tremendously hot very quickly and can set light to bins if thrown away while still warm.

The summer is great, we all enjoy BBQ’s and camping… but please be careful, don’t let your guard down, enjoy the summer, do things the right way and keep you and your loved ones safe.

In the event of a fire: GET OUT, STAY OUT AND CALL 999!