Proper Fire Safety Practices & Prevention Measures for Your Farm

Barn fires can wreak havoc on a farm overnight. Some farms in history have resulted in the tragic loss of human life and the loss of animal life leaving the family in tremendous financial ruin. Some farmers can go from having everything one day to losing generations’ worth of work the next morning, which makes fire safety awareness so important.

The most common time for barn fires is winter and summer. Oftentimes, winter fires are caused by rodents chewing through wires in equipment. They can also be caused by the accumulation of dust and debris on electrical surfaces, and heating equipment/heat lamps in near proximity to dry material. Summer fires, on the other hand, are often the result of the spontaneous combustion of hot hay, or even severe, unexpected electrical storms.

Barn fires are seldom small, and as farmers, it’s in our best interest to do what we can to protect our farms from disaster. Hitchings Insurance Agency has compiled some of the best fire safety measures for farmers to keep their buildings, valuable equipment, workers, and animals as safe as possible.

What are the most common causes of barn fires?

Before we get into fire safety practices and prevention measures, let’s look at what is the most common cause of fires. Those are as follows:

• Lightning
• Cigarettes/Smoking
• Electrical issues, due to faulty wiring or infestation
• Extension cords
• Dust, debris, and other barn clutter
• Electrical appliances
• Heating appliances
• Fire accelerators involving oil, kerosene, aerosol cans, or gasoline
• Motors
• Hay and straw stored near flammable sources

 It’s important to know what could cause a fire before you determine how to prevent a fire.

Take Note of Possible Ignition Sources

At a home, we do our best to avoid leaving any unnecessary appliances plugged in for too long. We put out candles when they’re not being observed. We turn off the oven when it’s not in use, and we have technicians come in regularly to assess the health of our home’s systems – the ones that could possibly cause issues, like aging electrical wiring.

The average house size is 2,500 square feet. That’s nothing to shake a stick at, but it’s a lot when you compare it to the average size of a farm and all its land (about 400 or more acres!) As such, you might imagine it’s a lot more difficult to acknowledge potential ignition sources.

Here are a few possible ignition sources on a farm:

• Hay and straw
• Paint
• Fertilizer
• Bedding material
• Pesticides/herbicides
• Cobwebs
• Gasoline
• Oil
• Batteries
• Electrical fixtures
• Fence chargers
• Cigarettes, matches
• Motors
• Heaters and heating lamps
• Sparks from machinery
• Various chemicals (especially ones that react with each other or water)

Care should be taken with every possible ignition source. It’s ideal to not store bedding, hay, or straw in the same building that you house your animals in, or around any heat source/electrical source. For hay, always ensure that you monitor its temperature (particularly during the summer) to assess the risk of spontaneous combustion. You can insert a thermometer into the middle of each stack to assess its temperature. Check anything that reads higher than 150 °Fahrenheit regularly.

General Fire Safety Precautions

Fires can occur with just one small incident, like flicking a cigarette butt too close to a bale of straw, or a mouse chewing through wires and causing a spark. As a farmer looking to protect their livelihood from the risk of fire, you need to take all possible fire precautions that you can.

Here are some general fire safety measures you should implement on your farm:

• Never permit smoking in barns or around hay/bedding storage. Provide butt cans or trays to incentivize the extinguishing of cigarettes.
• Always move away potential kindling debris, like weeds and twigs. Dispose of these away from your barns.
• Closely monitor the temperature of composting manure, as this can also act as a source of spontaneous combustion on hot summer days.
• Always keep aisles in barns clean and swept. Clean cobwebs and dust as often as possible, and clear away dust on any heating or electrical appliances.
• Manure piles should never be near any barns to reduce the risk of combustion fire.
• Always have a halter and lead shank for each horse you own available on their stall in case you need to move them quickly in the event of an emergency.
• Have a fire hose and bucket nearby to each barn in case of emergency.
• Store all machinery and equipment separate from your livestock and hay/bedding.
• To ensure all your workers are on the same page, practice regular fire drills that go over the evacuation process. Everyone should be assigned a role in the event a real fire occurs.
• All exits need to be clearly marked.

These are just a few general fire safety precautions, and the details of your farm might call for additional measures. It’s worth taking the time to sit down and draw out a fire risk mitigation plan to protect yourself, your family and livelihood, your animals, workers, and buildings.

Fire Safety Prevention Methods for Farm Exits/Access

If a barn fire does occur, it can spread very quickly and potentially consume much of your farmland. It’s important to ensure that emergency services not only have access to your farm but that your workers (and you) have the means to exit if possible.

Ensure that:

• No vehicle/trailer parking is permitted next to any stables or barns.
• There should always be 20-foot-wide emergency fire lanes around every structure and building.
• Shrubs, foliage, and low-hanging tree branches should be trimmed back.
• Driveways and roadways should be regularly checked and cleared of bumps and deep ruts.
• Gates should always be made wide enough for machinery and trucks to pass through.
• Overhead wires should always be high enough for trucks to pass through.
• Make sure that speed limit signs are posted and utilized, emphasizing a maximum of 15mph. Consider implementing signs like “Horse Crossing.”

Easy access to exit ways can mitigate the risk of possible fatalities. You can rebuild buildings and structures (especially with the right insurance coverage) but you can’t bring back precious lives lost.

Get insured with Hitchings Insurance Agency

Farmers are a breed apart, and they work so hard to keep their livelihood afloat. Many farmers are generational, keeping their farming operations going strong to pass down from generation to generation. With many of Hitchings Insurance team members being farmer-raised, we feel very strongly about protecting farmers – of whatever type, of whatever size.

We are more than happy to fit your farm with its respective farm insurance package, which can help to protect your farm against the risk of fire and other natural disasters. It may also protect your farm’s liability, livestock, equipment, machinery, and so on.

Give us a call today or request a quote.