MAJOR CAUSES OF FIRE OUTBREAK
(by UCHE AGADA)
Fire outbreak in recent years has been at a high, especially in most developing countries. No day passes without news of a fire incident, despite being known to be caused by many factors. One of the leading factors that cause fire outbreaks in homes and offices has always been “Negligence”.
Failure to exercise ethical and appropriate measures in preventing fire outbreaks always results in unlikely consequences. This article concentrate on the four causes of fire outbreaks and how to avoid them.
1.WRONG ELECTRICAL WIRING: Wrong electrical wiring is one of the significant reasons of a home or office fire outbreaks. Faulty electrical installations or wiring can lead to many electrical or power problems in a building ranging from frequent electrical surges, sags and dips in energy, light switches not working correctly, circuit breaker frequently tripping to circuit overload. When it comes to the household or office electrics, the safety of the occupants is always paramount, and wrong wiring has always been one of the common problems of facility managers encounter at the course of their work, wavering lights, damaged appliances and high bills can be signs of electrical surges, this is probably as a result of an electrical device connected to wiring itself or the home grid. As mentioned above, let’s elaborate on the problems experienced when there is a faulty wiring connection, with the most appropriate solutions or measures to take.
ELECTRICAL SURGES: Electrical surges can be as a result of anything from damaged power lines, faulty appliances, lightning strikes and certainly bad electrical wiring in the house. Though actual waves only last a microsecond, frequent surges can damage the electrical components connected to your home, thereby degrading their life expectancy significantly. Electrical surges can lead to a high risk of fire outbreak in homes and offices. Try removing cheap or non-quality device power boards from the outlets to check if it prevents the surges otherwise consult the services of a professional electrician.
LIGHT BULBS BURNING OUT TOO OFTEN: Light bulbs burning out too often can be of many reasons like bad wiring on the circuit, this poses a high risk of fire outbreak, it can spark in flames thereby leading to the burning of the cables. Light bulbs burning might seem to be a common problem in this part of the world; measures are frequently not taken to solve the problem until it has gotten to it’s worst.
2.EXTENSION CORDS AND POWER BOARDS: You must use the extension cords and power boards the right way at the office or home. Whenever possible, avoid not to use extension cords and power boards unless it’s necessary. If at all you need to use extension cords and power boards, avoid overload caused by plugging too many devices or accessories. Also, to be sure extension cords and power boards dissipate heat efficiently as possible, ensure that they are not being covered with anything and keep off hot surfaces such as heaters.
- HEATING EQUIPMENT: Many times, people put them close to combustible surfaces such as clothing, chairs and couches, and curtains due to its portability. Coil space heaters are mainly dangerous in this regard because the coil will become so hot that it will almost instantaneously ignite nearby flammable materials. For space heaters, it is advisable to use the radiator type that diffuse heat over the whole surface of the appliance. These are most likely to ignite flammable items; therefore, they should be kept in a proper safe place.
4.FAULTY OUTLETS, APPLIANCES: Mainly electrical fires are caused by faulty electrical outlets, worn out, outdated appliances. Receptacles, appliance cords and switches can cause other fires. Never use a worn device or frayed cord that can send heat onto surfaces like curtains and rugs because of their combustible nature. Running cords under rugs or flammable materials is also one of the causes of electrical fires. Removal of a grounding plug from a cable so that it can work in a two-prong electrical outlet is capable of also causing a fire outbreak.
CONCLUSION
Fire outbreak can be avoided, if all precautionary steps are strictly adhered to, also, the engaging professional electrical technicians in running most of the electrical appliances in our homes and facilities will drastically or inevitably reduce fire outbreak.