Fire safety questions & answers

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The British Standards for portable fire extinguishers states that the service frequency is annual +/- a month. The actual day when they were serviced the previous year is irrelevant. You can even have the fire extinguishers serviced in the month prior or the month after the fire extinguishers were originally due for inspection.

We provide a large range of fire extinguisher boxes for equipment which is installed outside. This ensures that the fire extinguishers do not corrode and also ensures you get the maximum life cycle from the equipment. Water based fire extinguishers should always be protected with low freeze additive to stop the contents freezing during winter months.

The British Standard for portable fire extinguishers states that fire extinguishers need to be fitted to a wall or placed on a suitable fire extinguisher stand. By keeping fire extinguishers on the floor you are at risk of causing damage to the equipment and creating an unnecessary trip hazard.

We aim to make your experience with Kings Fire as hassle free as possible. We take the worry of maintenance schedules away from our clients. When your equipment is due for maintenance we telephone you in advance to book appointments for each maintenance visit.

Every time we carry out an inspection we review your fire safety requirements to the relevant standards. This ensures that you have exactly the correct amount of equipment to cover the relevant risks within your premises.

In most cases you own your fire extinguishers, Fire blankets, Stands etc. When you purchase fire extinguishers they are your property and the current provider has no right to remove them without your prior consent. The only case where the current provider owns the fire equipment is when you have entered into a hire agreement which runs for the period you agreed with the provider.

In order to carry out fire safety maintenance we ensure that all necessary certification is in place for anyone visiting your premises. Feel free at any time to request a copy of our certificates of competency. If we or our subcontractors are not certificated to carry out maintenance on specific equipment we will not enter any agreement to maintain it.

When we carry out a first service on your fire extinguishers we compile a new equipment asset register which includes locations, types, size, Dates when new or last tested and dates when the equipment is due test or replacement. This information is emailed to each client along with their certificate after every inspection. The information provided in our location reports assist our clients with their monthly visual checks and more importantly their fire safety budgets year on year.

You can request that both services are carried out on the same day, But this is rare and not often required. The British Standards for most disciplines ensures there is enough flexibility in the service frequencies to get each service discipline carried out in adequate time.

We receive lots of calls from people asking if we can specify/install a fire alarm system just by using plans or visiting their new premises. We strongly advise that your fire alarm system is specified in your fire risk assessment document. This ensures you get the correct fire alarm system for your premises. If you do not seek professional guidance from a qualified fire risk assessor you run the risk of installing an inadequate fire alarm system or in some cases over spending on a system which is simply too complicated for the premises and not required. 

Providing nothing has changed from the previous year you can safely sign off your review if you are comfortable with signing off the document as the responsible person. If there have been changes to the building or working practices then a new fire risk assessment must be carried out by a competent and experienced fire risk assessor. We would also advise that a fresh risk assessment is carried out every two to three years due to any legislative changes which you may not be aware of and could have an impact on your fire safety.

The annual wet test is one part of the testing process of a dry riser system. The system "Stack" must be filled with water to a set pressure and hold for an amount of time as stated in the British Standards (BS9990:2015) You cannot and should not test a dry riser system with air only (Some fire protection businesses actually do this!) The British Standards also advises that you should have 6 monthly visual inspections on each dry riser stack.

Since 1989, it has been the responsibility of a building's owner / occupier to keep its fire hydrant systems in working order. Your fire hydrants should be flow tested annually. We strongly advise that the testing is completed where possible in the summer months. If fire hydrants are tested during the winter months you risk creating slip and fall risks due to the possibility of water freezing on the ground after the testing has been completed.

You should look to get your fire hydrants tested between the months of March and November. The reason for this is due to the risk of freezing weather conditions in the other months. Fire hydrant testing disperses large amounts of water (Up to 2,500 litres per minute!) so you need to ensure that you do not create ice patches especially on footpaths or roads as this can be very dangerous.

Fire doors should be inspected six monthly as a minimum. If you have doors which are high use it is advised to have them inspected every three months.

Most definitely not, It is a legal requirement that fire doors are only held open with devices which automatically close the door in the event the fire alarm sounds. This can be magnets which are part of your fire alarm system or by using Dorgards which are battery operated.

Due to the poor quality surveys we have seen over the last few years and the amount of time it takes to decipher other companies documents we have decided to only quote for fire door remedial works from our own surveys. 

We are able to carry out a vast amount of repairs to fire doors both internally or externally. We will always look to repair a door rather than replace although should the door require replacement that would not be a problem. All works are certificated and this is sent to you upon completion. 

Unlike some other fire safety businesses we will visit any business wanting to discuss their fire safety requirements completely free of charge and without making people sign any form of contract. We believe our relationship with future or current clients is based on trust and everything we do is agreed prior to any action being taken.

We would never charge for a fire extinguisher survey or fire safety sign survey. If you require a fire safety survey we will attend site on an agreed date and then send the quotation to you shortly afterwards. We can also survey a building using your building plans which gives you an indication of amounts and costs prior to site surveys. We also compile and send you our very popular equipment asset register which assists you with your monthly checks and future fire safety budgeting.

In 2018 Kings Fire was formed in Houghton Regis near Dunstable which had an 01582 number for our local area. In late 2020 we relocated to our new unit near Henlow in Bedfordshire which has a 01462 area code. As we are now established in the area we thought it best to use a local number so we purchased the additional number which will be shown on all vehicles, Documents, Labels etc. from April 2023. 

We will continue to use the 01582 number alongside the new local number for the foreseeable future. 

The easy answer to this question is no! BAFE is an accreditation scheme within the fire industry which promotes quality. There are many fire protection businesses in the UK that cannot or simply do not want to spend vast amounts of money to obtain such accreditation.  

Kings Fire takes quality extremely seriously. Our approach to quality starts with our strap line 'Quality Fire Protection' to which we strive to achieve in every discipline. We have certification to carry out all fire safety works along with £10,000,000 public liability insurance and SafeContractor accreditation. All of this together with our dedication to carrying out all works to the current British Standards and fire safety law ensures our clients get the absolute best service possible with the assurance that any works carried out by us is completed to the best quality available.  

We may decide as a business at some point in the future to join the BAFE scheme but presently we have chosen to concentrate on other areas.