Running a farm is a huge responsibility and financial risk. Because a fire could completely destroy your livelihood, fire prevention and firefighting methods are critical to protecting your crops, animals, machinery, and even the lives of your farmhands. You'll want to stock your barns and machinery with fire extinguishers and use fire-resistant materials when possible. Installing a fire suppression system is also a good idea since it may take firefighters a long time to respond to a fire at your remote farm. You can take responsibility for protecting your farm against fire by considering these fire suppression systems.
Dry Chemical Fire Suppression
Some types of fires call for a chemical extinguishing method. Water isn't effective on certain chemicals, oil, gas, and electrical fires. A dry chemical fire suppression system would be a good choice in a barn that houses fuel and for use on heavy machinery. Farm machinery is at particular risk of fire because of all the debris that gets pulled into the machine as it operates in the field. The heat produced can cause the debris to ignite and start a fire that could destroy an expensive piece of farm equipment and even spread to the surrounding field. That's why you'll want a fire suppression system on each machine so you can put out a fire in the field as well as a fire that starts in the barn when the machinery is parked.
Water Sprinklers And Misters
Suppression systems using water are effective in barns that house livestock and stored crops. When a sprinkler head detects heat, it sprays water on the fire to put it out before it has a chance to grow and spread. The downside to using a sprinkler system is that you need an abundant source of water. If you don't have a source of water to pull from during all seasons of the year, you may need to install a holding tank to ensure the sprinklers will be operational.
Water sprinklers can work during freezing weather as well. Gas is used to keep the water out of the exposed pipes until heat is detected. This keeps the sprinkler system from freezing and becoming ineffective. A water misting fire suppression system uses less water, but your insurance company may not give you the same credit for a misting system that they will with traditional sprinklers. Although a sprinkler system may be expensive to install initially, they need little maintenance and you'll have peace of mind that your animals are protected in case a fire breaks out when you're not around to extinguish it.
Although you may take great care to make your barns as safe from fire as possible, accidents can still occur. All it takes is a lightning strike or a dropped cigarette to ignite a fire that could wipe out your financial future. A good fire suppression system helps control a fire if it ever does break out so your losses are minimized. For more information and options, contact a company that supplies fire suppression systems, like Echo Fire Protection.
Share3 November 2017
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