How to prevent fires in your maintenance hangar

A Safe Shop Includes Fire Prevention

The threat of fire is a present danger in aviation maintenance. Although statistics are not available from the United States Fire Administration on this unique problem, it is safe to say that more than 10 fires occur each year in hangars throughout the United States. Every fire is a disaster because each one is preventable in some way. The loss of equipment, jobs, clients, and life is but a spark away.

Prevention

The easiest way to avoid a fire is to prevent one from occurring. Each company should have a plan to prevent fires. Don't think of a plan as a long-drawn-out affair. Simply put, the appointed safety leader can compose and implement a fire safety plan in less than a week. If the maintenance shop already meets federal, state, and local codes even less time is needed.

The Essentials

A clean shop is less likely to experience a fire than one that looks like a small bomb went off in it. The easiest way to maintain cleanliness is to do just that: maintain!

An appointed day in which to deep clean is a good idea. A better idea is to search the shop daily for the following:

Rags and towels--While spontaneous combustion is rare, it can happen. A major source is oily rags left in a pile. Keep the rags in UL-approved containers, which can be purchased from any industrial safety catalog. (Underwriters Laboratories is a testing agency that is the standard-bearer in safety.)

Open flammables that are not in UL- listed containers--Again, order containers that are UL-approved from an industrial safety catalog, with a metal lip at the bottom, which helps to prevent leakage. Aviation gasoline should be stored in accordance with fire codes and in UL-listed containers only.

Grease buildup--Avoid grease buildup, especially near electrical devices.

Electric devices left in the "on" position--This leading cause of fires has an obvious and simple solution: turn off electrical devices when not in use.

Extension cords --Use only heavy-duty, UL-listed extension cords. Extension cords should in fact be only used temporarily until hardwiring occurs. If you use them, make sure that they meet voltage requirements.

The LIP Plan

LIP is an acronym for life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation. The plan is in use around the country in fire departments. In the aviation maintenance shop, life safety is primary, the alpha and omega. Smoke detectors, installed per local code, are obvious weapons in the war on fire. In addition, fire extinguishers provide protection. Thus, each day, every exit path should undergo a check to make sure that it is clear, the door will open, and that an extinguisher is present on each path. Call the nearest fire department and have them come by and offer suggestions as to the placement of extinguishers and smoke detectors. As a rule of thumb, a shop needs one extinguisher, preferably a 10-pound ABC multipurpose extinguisher, for every 2,500 square feet. While code requirements may differ, from a professional standpoint, the more extinguishers you provide, the better the odds that if a fire starts it can be contained and no life will be lost. In addition, incident stabilization, the second part of the LIP plan, depends on shop workers catching a fire in the incipient or beginning stage. Provide enough extinguishers and the third part of the plan, property conservation, will occur and save lives and money. The reward for only a small amount of time invested in safety is incalculable.

-- By Jay Lowry