Farm, Barn and Stable Fire Safety and Evacuation Plans

Unique Challenges of Farm Fire Safety
Use of fire safety plans for farm fire safety
Evacuating Livestock
Professional Fire Safety Plan Design Service

Unique Challenges of Farm Fire Safety

Up-to-date emergency procedures can greatly reduce the risk to both farm employees and animals.

Farming Is A Risky Business

A farm is a kind of light industry. It is a business with many risks for starting fires and many hazards for first responders. There are toxic chemicals used to kill weeds and vermin. Fertilizer and decomposing manure are explosion hazards. Wet silage may spontaneously combust. Fields of dry vegetation are fuel for fast moving grass fires. Hay, straw and wood shavings used for bedding fill barns with what is essentially fire starter. Often there are large tanks with fuel for tractors and farm machinery. Municipal water supplies and a hydrant system may be completely lacking. Buildings may have been built before modern fire codes.But a farm is also a home to the owner's family and all the farm animals on it. If a family loses a barn to fire, they will have lost an income source as well as an expensive building. The loss of a barn used for storing farm machinery represents a huge loss of investment capital. Even the loss of silage storage may represent a loss of thousands of dollars and many hours of work. There are not many farms with a large enough cash reserve to continue farm operations, while waiting for the year or more it takes to get an insurance settlement.

Fire Safety In a Rural Location

Fire safety begins with a site survey.

Can the fire brigade get accesss?

Is the address clearly marked? Gates should swing both ways and the hardware should be easy to operate, even if visibility is poor. Laneways should be wide enough for emergency vehicles. Brush and weeds should be cut back. Is there access to water for fire fighting? Charged cell phones are a neccessity, but a land line should be available in the event of a power failure.

Evaluate the structures

Remember fire needs fuel and oxygen.There should be fire breaks where barns are closer than 15m from each other. There should be physical barriers like fire resistant walls and doors to control air flow into and out of a building. In older wooden barns firewalls can be used to divide blocks of stalls to slow down the spread of flames. Farm workers should know how to operate the fans and ventilation systems.

Do older buildings need some upgrading? Fire retardant paint can be used on wooden surfaces in barns especially roof trusses to increase fire safety. A new metal or tile roof may get the building a more favourable rate from the insurance company.

All major farm buildings should be equipped with sturdy, grounded, lightningrods. It may be required by the fire code in your province.

Check that all exit paths are clear of obstacles and combustible debris like garbage, dried weeds and wood shavings. Fuels and flamables like paint thinner should be clearly labelled and safely stored, away from exits.

Is hay, silage and bedding material stored where it will remain dry, and if possible, surrounded by non-combustible surfaces like concrete and metal, to reduce the danger of spontaneous combustion?

All electrical systems should be to code. All wiring should be grounded and in good condition. Are there extension cords in use? That is a sign there are not enough outlets in the right places. The electrical service may need to be upgraded. Electric lights should have cages, especially if the building houses horses, who are large enough to reach them. Consider switching out old incandesantlights. Energy efficient lighting is also cooler lighting. Remember Easy Bake Ovens? A single 100 watt light bulb gets hot enough to bake a cake.

If the farm incinerates garbage, incinerators should be located atleast 15-30 metres from buildings. Incinerators should have spark arrestors.

A barn should at least have smoke and CO detectors and fire extinguishers just like any workplace. There should also be emergency lights and exit signs to protect people working in the barns. Have regular fire drills for the family and farm workers. Post an evacuation map to aid visitors in escaping during an emergency.

It is an excellent idea to make a fire safety plan and have your local fire authority check it out. Draw the location of buildings. Mark the exits. Add the location of fire safety equipment, especially water access.Then mark special hazards like where the bull is stabled.

Mark the location and type of chemical hazards stored on your fire safety plan. Chemical hazards include gasoline, propane or diesel storage tanks, the manure pile, bags of fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides, gallons of creosote, waterproofing solutions and paints, jugs of disinfectants, and cleaning agents like lye, bleach, and degreaser. First responders need to know whether it is safe to use water, whether they will need breathing apparatus, and the likelihood of explosion.

Evacuating Livestock

While insurance companies may consider livestock to be income earning assets, to a farmer livestock are dependant, living beings whose fire-related deaths will have an emotional cost. Any farm with livestock must therefore consider animal evacuation in their fire safety planning.

Evacuating animals in an emergency situation can be extremely difficult. Chickens, turkeys, sheep and pigs can be so densely billetted that the sheer number of animals makes evacuation impractical. There also may be no other temporary housing available, leaving the animals subject to the extremes of weather. Early warning smoke detectors and automated fire suppression systems such as sprinklers are an alternative to evacuation in this situation.

Pigs, cows, sheep, goats and horses may be successfully evacuated by someone familiar with fire safety procedures. Assign a competant adult the job of guiding animals during a fire. Never let a child do this task. There are too many variables that must be quickly considered before deciding evacuation can be done safely. This person must consider toxic fumes, smoke levels, likely path of flames spreading, and building integrity before attempting a rescue.

Animals will be operating on instinct during a fire. They may decide to exit in a panic-stricken herd. They may think the light and noise of the fire truck represents a greater danger than a fire and try to return to their familiar stall. Keep a halter and lead shank on every stall door. Regularly practice fire evacuations with your animals. Simulate an emergency, using bright lights, flashlights, sirens and even dressing like a fire fighter to desensitize the animals.

Ideally, fire safety planning would begin before barns were built. Barns should be designed with a straight run outside to enable livestock to be released and buildings evacuated quickly with a minimum of assistance. There should also be an area for temporary animal containment outside. Adequate space between buildings helps prevent fires from spreading quickly from one barn to another. An automated fire suppression system that is not toxic to animals may be an excellent safety investment.

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