Fire Extinguishers at open air event

[sstjc]

I am working with a counrty show which expects 5000 people a day (2 day event). I am trying to work out how many fire extinguishers we should provide. We place them at strategic points around the event. However is there some way of calculating how many should be provide, of each type, around the event fields.
Any input gratefully recieved.
Thanks

[stephen1974]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... en-air.pdf

Goto page 58 for fire extinguishers but hopefully the whole thing will be useful for you

[sstjc]

Many thanks for the link that is very useful. The specific problem I have is how to establish the number of fire points. We are hiring a number of extingushers with stands to act as fire points but the question is how many should we have. This is one of those things that is quite subjective I do appreciate but with everything else there seems to be guides and there is a calculation for how many within a building. But for open air events there seems to be nothing?

This is a country show and as well as our own hired Extinguishers I am going to require every caravan to be equiped with a fire extinguisher.

As an aside I went to a vingate show at the weekend and there was no fire provision at all (and no First Aid provision either). The point being, as I was told by someone, as its an outdoor event no fire provision is required.
Is that right ?
If its not right has anyone any practical advice about how to determine what fire provision there should be?

Many thanks

[bernicarey]

Many thanks for the link that is very useful. The specific problem I have is how to establish the number of fire points. We are hiring a number of extingushers with stands to act as fire points but the question is how many should we have. This is one of those things that is quite subjective I do appreciate but with everything else there seems to be guides and there is a calculation for how many within a building. But for open air events there seems to be nothing?

I refer you to the previous link page 59 (61 of the pdf)
"They should be placed on a dedicated stand
or hung at a convenient height so that people
can easily lift them off (at about 1m for larger
extinguishers, 1.5m for smaller ones, to the
level of the handle). Ideally no one should
have to travel more than 30m to reach a fire
extinguisher"

There is nothing to indicate that this distance concept only applies indoors, it's simply a travel distance to get an extinguisher.

This is a country show and as well as our own hired Extinguishers I am going to require every caravan to be equiped with a fire extinguisher.

As an aside I went to a vingate show at the weekend and there was no fire provision at all (and no First Aid provision either). The point being, as I was told by someone, as its an outdoor event no fire provision is required.
Is that right ?
If its not right has anyone any practical advice about how to determine what fire provision there should be?

Many thanks

That's a load of Poop! I assume you mean 'Vintage Show', so cars etc and no doubt marques, gazebos etc. The same Leaflet applies to all.
There is a very poor understanding of applicable regulations, even amongst professional event organisers.

It's a Fire Risk Assessment, whether indoors or out. That includes things like parking on a dry grass field and setting the lot ablaze, because the grass is too long and modern car exhausts get a lot hotter than pre-CAT ones.

[stephen1974]

If such measures were not required at an outdoor event the government wouldn't have bothered with a comprehensive guide for such things. First Aid cover, technically, they could be right as there is no statutory requirement to provide 1st aid to the public, though often you will find it a stipulation of any operating licence that's been issued by the local authority.

I wouldn't have thought distances between fire fighting equipment would apply to an outdoor event. Whats going to go up in flames in the middle of a field? That said, Risk assess.

Are there going to be tents? eg at a music festival? then yes, things can go up in flames, spliffs dropped on bedding etc, so fire fighting equipment easily accessible would be good but then are said spliff heads going to be setting them off for poops and giggles? in which case buckets of sand might be better for said spliff fires.

If its just a large open space then you probably only need equipment near places that could catch fire. Bins, stalls, marquees etc.

[bernicarey]

The guide given on stephen1974's link, aside from his mention of P58, commences with the list of potential usage locations for an 'Event'
theme parks,
zoos,
music concerts and festivals,
sporting events,
race meetings,
fairgrounds,
street festivals,
religious festivals,
balloon festivals,
car-boot sales,
county fairs, and
other similar events.

And the OP has stated " counrty (sic) show which expects 5000 people a day", which might be a 'County' or 'Country' event... whichever, we probably all know the sort of thing.
But there's mention of caravans, so it that residential of exhibitors staying over? So depending on numbers, that's a whole different ball game.

Stephen's comment..

I wouldn't have thought distances between fire fighting equipment would apply to an outdoor event. Whats going to go up in flames in the middle of a field? That said, Risk assess.

I would just refer back to that list of of applications. For example the typical County Show is packed with Marquees.

Travel distances would be very relevant, perhaps not for immediate life protection but in extinguishing a small fire before it spreads, as would the maintenance of access ways and fire break lines.
A busy County Show will have many people, lots of them families with little kids, milling around craft marquees etc.