Pubs urged to cut risk of fire

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Licensees should review safety procedures, says specialist.Licensees have been warned to review fire precautions following the release of figures...

Licensees should review safety procedures, says specialist.

Licensees have been warned to review fire precautions following the release of figures which show reported fires in pubs and clubs are increasing at the rate of nearly 12 per cent a year.

Latest Home Office statistics - for the year 1999 - reveal that brigades were called to 1,711 fires compared to 1,534 in 1988.

Small business insurance specialist Hill House Hammond (HHH) estimates the cost of fire damage to businesses at £1.6million a day. "We recommend that proprietors urgently review procedures to reduce the risk," said the firm's Alexandra Lovesey.

The call was backed by Roger Vincent at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

"Figures like these go to emphasise that publicans need to be on their guard," he said. "They should get the pub checked out regularly by fire officers." He pointed to kitchens, burning cigarette butts and the wiring in old pubs as the most likely flashpoints.

The growth in pub food has led to many licensees investing in kitchen equipment and cooking hot meals, and this alone could be a major factor in the increase in fires, he suggested.

Home Office figures show 29,400 fires in 1999 started with food, with 19,800 of them caused by burning fat, an astonishing 28 per cent of the total number of reported fires in the UK.

"Commercial fat fryers are relatively safe," said Mr Vincent. "But if pubs are using domestic fryers, that could be a problem."

The good news is that injuries caused by pub fires were down from 152 to 133, suggesting, said Mr Vincent, that the installation of smoke alarms was having a positive effect in warning people and getting an early evacuation of the building.

Pubs are not perceived by HHH to be at any greater risk than shops or cafes when it comes to insurance - unless they have a portable frying unit, which triggers an increase in premiums.

Pubs with live entertainment are also higher risk because of the numbers of people on the premises. Fire claims for pubs range from £2,000 to £200,000 a time, and HHH has noticed growing numbers of bigger claims.

One of the largest claims in 1999 was made by Steve Couzens at the Halfway House in Cornwall. He returned from walking the dog to find the pub on fire and it took him 10 months to rebuild and refurnish the business.

An investigation found that the blaze started when a cigarette was thrown into a bin containing an empty spirits bottle.

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