A fire can cause serious harm to any building, but schools are especially vulnerable. Even a small fire can injure people, destroy pupils’ work and close a school for weeks.

The law requires every school to take measures to prevent fire. The main legal duties fall on the person in control of the school, but every member of staff has an important part to play.

This course explains the essentials of fire safety in schools: how fires start, what the law requires, how fires are prevented, and how to evacuate pupils safely, including those who need extra help.

By the end of this course, you will understand:

• The impact a fire can have on a school.
• How fires start, and the different classes of fire.
• Fire safety law, and the duties it places on everyone in the school.
• How to reduce fire risks through good housekeeping, safe storage and other preventive measures.
• How your school can deter arson.
• The standards for alarms, detectors, extinguishers and escape routes.
• How to respond to a fire, and lead pupils to safety.
• Why personal evacuation plans and fire drills matter, and the part you may play in them.

This first module explains why fire safety matters and how fires begin. You will learn about:

• Why fire safety is so important in schools.
• Fire safety law.
• The fire triangle.
• The classes of fire.
• Common fire hazards in a school.

Fires damage schools every year. They can endanger lives, disrupt education and cause huge financial losses.

Schools face particular risks. They contain large amounts of combustible material, such as paper, displays, furniture and equipment, and they are busy with large numbers of people, many of them children.

Schools are also a target for arson. Fires are sometimes started deliberately, by pupils or by intruders, in hidden areas such as toilets, storerooms or around the outside of the building. Prevention is essential, both to reduce arson and to stop fire spreading quickly.

As well as endangering staff and pupils, a fire in a school can:

• Destroy facilities, books, computers, and science and music equipment.
• Destroy pupils’ coursework and teachers’ lesson plans.
• Ruin pupil records and important administrative documents.
• Disrupt lessons and exams, sometimes for months.
• Lower the morale and wellbeing of staff and pupils. Results often suffer, especially if pupils must move to another site.
• Damage the school’s reputation in the community.

That is why every school needs effective fire safety procedures, and why every member of staff must know how to support them.

These incidents took place in real schools.

A fire broke out in a school kitchen outside school hours. No one was on site, but smoke and fire badly damaged the staff room, a corridor and several classrooms. The cause was combustible materials stored too close to a heat source.

In another school, a fire involving wood-cutting machinery in the technology block filled half the school with smoke, and specialist ventilation equipment was needed to clear it. The incident showed how important equipment maintenance and workshop fire procedures are.

A fault in a cooling unit started a fire in a school computer suite, damaging a wall and several computers. Firefighters found thick, dark smoke, and were concerned about a backdraft, an explosive event caused by a sudden rush of air. They put the fire out before it spread.

In another case, arsonists set fire to an outbuilding at a primary school. The flames spread quickly towards the main building, and extra fire crews were needed to stop them. No one was on site, but several classrooms were damaged.

These examples show why fire safety is regulated by law. In Ireland, the two main laws covering fire safety in schools are:

• The Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. Section 18 requires the person in control of premises, including a school, to take all reasonable measures to guard against fire, and to protect the people on the premises if a fire breaks out.
• The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, which requires employers to assess risks, plan for emergencies and train their staff.

These laws apply to all schools, including primary and post-primary schools, special schools and early years settings.

Several other laws also apply to fire safety in schools:

• The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, which cover emergency routes and exits, fire detection, fire fighting equipment and safety signs.
• The Building Control Acts 1990 to 2014, under which new school buildings, extensions and certain alterations need a fire safety certificate.
• The Building Regulations, Part B, which set fire safety standards for the design and construction of buildings.
• The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Chemical Agents) Regulations 2001, as amended, and Part 8 of the 2007 Regulations, which covers explosive atmospheres.

The Chemical Agents Regulations require schools to manage the risks from hazardous substances, and the explosive atmospheres rules in Part 8 of the 2007 Regulations set out what must be done to prevent fires and explosions.

Together, these rules require schools to control substances that are flammable, explosive or oxidising, because they can easily start or feed a fire. Science laboratories, art rooms, technology rooms and cleaning stores often hold them.

If your role involves handling these substances, you may need specific training to use and store them safely.

The law also requires employers to give staff fire safety information and training. Section 10 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires training to be provided:

• When staff are first employed.
• When they are exposed to new or increased risks, for example because of a change in their duties, new equipment or changes to the building.

Training must be repeated regularly, because conditions in a school change over time. By completing this course, you are helping your school to meet its legal duties.

To prevent fire, you need to understand how it starts. Three elements must be present together:

• Ignition: a source of heat or a spark that can start a fire.
• Fuel: anything that burns, allowing the fire to grow and continue.
• Oxygen: normally from the air around us. Fire needs oxygen to keep burning.

Together, these three elements form the fire triangle. Remove any one of them, and a fire cannot start or continue. Most fire safety measures work by keeping these elements apart.

All fires need the same three elements, but they are grouped into classes according to the fuel that is burning:

• Class A: solid materials, such as wood, paper and textiles.
• Class B: flammable liquids, such as paints, varnishes and petrol.
• Class C: flammable gases, such as methane and propane.
• Class D: combustible metals, such as magnesium and lithium.
• Class F: cooking oils and fats.

Fires involving electrical equipment are not a separate class, because electricity is a source of ignition rather than a fuel. Knowing the type of fire matters, because it decides how the fire can be put out safely. Water on an electrical fire, for example, is extremely dangerous.

Common sources of ignition in a school include:

• Naked flames and hot equipment, such as Bunsen burners, cooking hobs, heaters and stage lighting.
• Faulty, misused or overheated electrical equipment, such as computers, projectors, air conditioning units and workshop machinery. Blocked ventilation often causes overheating.
• Static electricity, and friction from worn machine parts.
• Smoking materials, such as discarded cigarettes and lighters.
• Hot work, such as welding.
• Arson, for example setting fire to bins placed against the building.

Think about where these exist in your school. A computer room, for example, is full of electrical equipment that can overheat.

Common sources of fuel in a school include:

• Paper and card, such as books, worksheets, displays and packaging.
• Wood and fabrics, such as furniture, curtains, musical instruments, drama props, and materials for woodwork and textiles.
• Rubber, plastics and foam, such as sports mats and drama equipment.
• Flammable liquids, such as cleaning products, cooking oils, paints, glues and varnishes.
• Flammable gases, such as propane, and flammable metals, such as magnesium. Metal shavings from cutting burn especially easily.
• Chemicals and waste.

Science laboratories may hold flammable chemicals, while technology rooms may contain metals and large amounts of wood.

Oxygen comes from:

• The air around us.
• Oxidising chemicals, which release oxygen and make a fire burn more fiercely.
• Oxygen cylinders, such as those used for welding or in science departments.

Because oxygen is the hardest of the three elements to control, the focus in schools is on keeping ignition sources and fuel apart. Later in this course, you will learn how to do this in practice.