Module 1 of 2 · 45 minutes
Fire strategy, evacuation and the risks unique to care
By the end of this module you will be able to
- State the duties of the responsible person under the Fire Safety Order 2005
- Explain the fire triangle and the three ways to break it
- Describe progressive horizontal evacuation and stay put strategies
- Identify care specific fire risks and the controls for each
Amara Fire training in every job I have had said the same thing. Get out, stay out, meet at the assembly point.
Nadia And in a care home that advice will kill people. Which is why this module exists as its own thing rather than as a paragraph in health and safety.
Amara Explain that.
Nadia Picture the building. Forty residents. Most cannot walk unaided. Several are hoisted. It is three in the morning and there are four staff on. Now walk them all down a staircase in four minutes.
Amara You cannot.
Nadia You cannot. So care settings use a different strategy. It is called progressive horizontal evacuation. You move people through fire doors into the next fire compartment on the same floor, away from the fire. Not out of the building.
Amara And that compartment is safe?
Nadia It is built to hold fire and smoke back long enough for the fire service to arrive. Which brings me to the thing I most want people to take from this module. The wedged fire door.
Amara Everybody wedges fire doors. It is the most ignored rule in every building I have worked in.
Nadia Because people think of it as a housekeeping rule. It is not. In a care setting, the compartments are the evacuation plan. When you wedge that door open, you have not broken a rule about doors. You have deleted the plan.
Amara That reframes it completely.
Nadia It is the same physics as the fire triangle. Heat, fuel, oxygen. Remove any one and the fire stops. A closed fire door removes oxygen and buys you thirty or sixty minutes depending on its rating.
Amara What actually kills people in fires?
Nadia Smoke, far more than flame. It moves faster than fire, it disorients people, and it is toxic. In a building where residents cannot move themselves, containment is everything.
Amara Tell me about PEEPs.
Nadia A personal emergency evacuation plan. For each person who cannot evacuate unaided, it says how they will be moved, by how many staff, with what equipment, and any communication or behavioural needs.
Amara Where should it live?
Nadia Somewhere you can reach it in an emergency. Not in a locked office, not in a folder in the manager's drawer. I have seen PEEPs that nobody on the night shift had ever seen, which makes them a document rather than a plan.
Amara You said care has fire risks that general training misses. What are they?
Nadia The one people do not know about is emollient creams.
Amara Moisturiser?
Nadia Moisturiser. It soaks into clothing and bedding, and it makes those fabrics burn far more readily. There have been deaths. The MHRA has issued repeated warnings about it.
Amara I assumed the paraffin free ones were fine.
Nadia That was the original assumption and it was wrong. The warning now covers paraffin free emollients too. So warn the person, keep them away from naked flames and cigarettes, wash fabrics at a high temperature, and record the risk. And be aware that even high temperature washing does not fully remove the residue.
Amara What else?
Nadia Smoking, including in bed. Oxygen therapy, which enriches the atmosphere so things ignite far more easily, and no oil or grease anywhere near it. Charging mobility scooters and lithium batteries. Portable heaters. Overloaded sockets.
Amara Last question, and it is the one people are afraid to ask. If somebody cannot be moved, do I stay?
Nadia You act within your PEEP and your training, and you do not put yourself in a position where the fire service arrives to two casualties instead of one. That is not cowardice, it is the instruction. And you never re enter a building, and you never use a lift unless it is a designated evacuation lift.
The written material
The law and the responsible person
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies in England and Wales and places duties on a responsible person, usually the employer or the person in control of the premises. They must carry out and keep under review a fire risk assessment, put in place general fire precautions, and provide information and training to staff.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022 tightened this further after Grenfell, particularly around external walls and responsibilities in higher risk buildings. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own equivalent regimes.
The fire triangle
Fire needs heat, fuel and oxygen. Remove any one and it stops. That is why closing a door works: you are removing oxygen and containing the fire, and a closed fire door will typically hold fire and smoke back for thirty or sixty minutes depending on its rating.
It is also why smoke kills more people than flame. Smoke moves faster, disorients, and is toxic. In a care setting, where residents may not be able to move themselves, containment matters more than anywhere.
Evacuation strategy in a care setting
Progressive horizontal evacuation means moving people through fire doors into the adjacent fire compartment on the same floor, away from the fire, rather than out of the building. That compartment is designed to protect them while the fire service arrives.
Vertical evacuation, down a staircase, comes later and only if needed, because it is slow, dangerous for frail people, and physically demanding for staff. Some settings, particularly purpose built flats, operate a stay put strategy instead. Know which strategy applies where you work, and know it before the alarm sounds.
PEEPs and care specific risks
A personal emergency evacuation plan sets out, for each person who cannot evacuate unaided, how they will be moved, by how many staff, with what equipment, and any communication or behavioural needs. It must be accessible in an emergency, not filed in an office.
Care settings carry specific risks that general fire training misses. Emollient creams, both paraffin based and paraffin free, soak into clothing and bedding and dramatically increase how readily they burn; there have been deaths, and the MHRA has issued repeated warnings. Smoking, including in bed. Oxygen therapy, which enriches the atmosphere and makes ignition far easier. Charging of mobility equipment and lithium batteries. Portable heaters. Overloaded sockets.
- Emollients: warn the person, keep away from naked flames, wash fabrics at high temperature, and record the risk
- Oxygen: no smoking, no naked flames, no oil or grease near the equipment
- Assist a person only within your PEEP and your training
- Never re enter a building for possessions, and never use a lift unless it is an evacuation lift
Knowledge check
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The learning itself stays free and open. You are reading all of it right now without an account.