Understanding Fire Fighting Equipment Deployment on a Music Festival Site.

Fire is a serious subject that needs the full attention of music festival organisers to prevent potential injuries and property damage in the event of any incidents. There are strict regulations governing fire prevention at all event locations and compliance with these is essential for the safe operation of all music festivals.

It's no longer acceptable to just drop fire extinguishers at random locations on a festival site and a comprehensive understanding of how to deploy the appropriate equipment correctly is critical to ensure the safety of festival-goers, staff and property. What are the key considerations for planning, training and equipment deployment for an effective fire prevention implementation process.

Fire Risk Assessment.
A key aspect of the event planning process is to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment for the festival where fire prevention is an important part of this. A full evaluation of all potential fire risks is required which will typically include food cooking zones, stage pyrotechnics usage, back stage electrical installations and generator fuel storage. An assessment of the festival site layout can help identify evacuation paths and the ideal location of recommended fire fighting equipment. Further considerations could be managing how festival-goers use their own cooking stoves in camping zones and enforcing designated no smoking areas. 

Fire Safety Inspections.
Every country will have regulations regarding events and fire safety compliance, some more struct than others. Local authorities, health and safety inspectors and representatives from local fire services will usually  have responsibility for making site inspections to ensure compliance with local requirements. This could include a number of inspections at various stages in the site build to ensure that recommendations have been implemented. Inspections will cover designated assembly zones, access points and out of the site to ensure safe evacuation if necessary and the ability of fire fighting vehicles to gain easy access. Inspectors will also closely examine all fire fighting equipment installed to ensure it is appropriate for the location, is in good working order and has not expired.

Staff and Volunteer Training.
Fire fighting training of selected staff and volunteers is essential and is usually conducted by local fire services. Organisers may allocate fire officer duties to specific individuals to ensure coverage across the festival site and all operating hours. Training will include assessing the seriousness of any incident and prioritising the safe evacuation of people and informing local fire services. Fire services will also offer training on using fire fighting equipment for managing small fires. Fire officers will need to have a full understanding of fire incident protocols and work closely with local fire and emergency services. Designated staff fire officers will also have responsibility for monitoring fire fighting equipment during the event live dates to ensure they remain serviceable and located correctly. In addition, they will make regular inspections of high-risk zones to ensure that operations are complying with regulations.

Types of Equipment.
Organisers will usually obtain fir fighting equipment from a reputable contractor who are experts in fire risk assessment for festival sites.  Whilst most people think of fire extinguishers as the primary fire fighting tool it can be more complex than that. Fire extinguishers may contain a variety of different chemicals and typically include water, foam, CO2 and powder to address various fire classes and categories. Fire officers should understand which type of extinguisher to use in each case. Fire blankets are also common and are mainly used for electrical and kitchen fires. If the festival site is especially large it may be appropriate to have temporary water tanks installed on-site, primarily used for supplying bathroom facilities. These can often be adapted to offer connections to high-capacity hoses or on-site hydrants giving fire fighters additional water supplies.

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