Guidance from defra:
Fire risk on farms
Agricultural fires often present different challenges than most other premises for these main reasons:
Remote location: This can mean it takes longer for crews to arrive to the incident, and sometimes there are little or insufficient water supplies to fight a fire.
Combustible materials: Wet hay/straw can spontaneously combust.
Arson risk: Isolated premises may be targeted by arsonists.
Wildfires: Hot and dry weather can increase the risk of wildfires starting and spreading.
Who is responsible for fire safety on the farm?
The Responsible Person is typically the farm owner or manager, and they are legally responsible for ensuring the occupants on their sites are safe from fire.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all farm buildings that people work in. This could include barns, milking parlours, farmhouses or outbuildings used for accommodation.
It is a legal requirement for a fire risk assessment to be undertaken on these areas, regardless of the size or occupancy. By conducting a fire risk assessment, you can identify and reduce any hazards (i.e., machinery, welding, hay, fuel etc.), ensuring the right precautions are in place to keep everyone safe. If you do not feel competent and confident to do this assessment yourself, you may need to appoint someone to do it for you. Our website has some advice on appointing someone: Fire risk assessments – Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Preventing and protecting farms from fire:
There are many things you can do to prevent a fire and protect people if there is a fire. For example:
- Ensure there are always escape routes available and kept clear from any obstructions such as rubbish, building materials and combustibles materials.
- Providing fire safety training to all your staff so they know how to prevent a fire and what they should do if there is a fire.
- Carrying out fire safety drills with your staff, particularly those that use machinery and are responsible for evacuating livestock.
Hay and Straw fires
Most people would think, understandably, that dry hay is more of a fire risk than wet hay. However, it is in fact wet hay that poses a risk of fire as it can spontaneously combust if it has high moisture levels of more than 22%. Internal temperatures above 55°C trigger a chemical process that generates combustible gases. If the stack remains at this heat or continues to warm, these gases can catch fire.
Heating is likely to occur within three to seven days in hay above 15% moisture but typically doesn’t reach dangerous levels and causes minimal forage quality loss.
Following the initial week of internal heating, stack temperatures should subside to safe levels over the subsequent weeks. To prevent spontaneous combustion, moisture content should be maintained between 18% and 22% for small rectangular bales, and between 16% and 18% for larger round or rectangular bales.
IMPORTANT: If you suspect a haystack is combusting, do not walk on top of it. Internal pockets can burn away, leaving a “bridge” of hay that can collapse into a furnace.
Monitoring Hay Temperatures:
Did you know that there is a distinctive smell to heating hay – it may smell like caramel, or quite musty. If you notice this, it is time to start monitoring the hay’s temperature with a thermometer probe.
| Temperature | Status | Action Required |
| 65°C | Caution | Monitor the temperature daily. |
| 70°C | Danger | Monitor the temperature every four hours. |
| 80-85°C | Critical | Wet the hay and remove it from the barn or away from other dry hay or buildings. |
| 100°C | Fire | It is likely that the hay is going to ignite if it hasn’t already. Evacuate safely and call 999 immediately. |
What to do if you have a fire on your farm:
- Go somewhere safe that is aware from the fire.
- Call 999, ask for the Fire Service, and tell them the following:
- Location details: Providing a What3Words location is ideal.
- Access: Information on the best access for fire appliances.
- Water supply: Any issues accessing water supplies.
- Hazards: What is, or could be, involved in the fire (i.e., hay, chemicals, basements etc.).
- Be available to meet our crews upon their arrival.
- If safe to do so, be prepared to evacuate any livestock if the fire should spread to these areas.
- You may be asked to use farm machinery to assist the crews with moving items such as hay/straw.
Livestock
Protecting your livestock from fire should be included in your fire risk assessment and evacuation procedures. You should consider what you would do with them in the event of a fire whilst keeping you and your staff safe.
It is important to remember that if fire starts or spreads into livestock areas, the conditions may be challenging – there could be poor visibility due to smoke and lack of lighting, it might be very hot, and a lot of noise if the animals are scared.
You may need to identify refuges and secure pens/cages for certain animals as, when distressed, they may become aggressive or even try to return to their stables/pens as this is where they likely feel safe.
If possible, livestock should be evacuated upwind.
What you can do to help the fire service
- Display your property sign clearly at the entrance to enable emergency vehicles to find you quickly.
- Find out where your nearest fire hydrant is and keep it clear from overgrown vegetation.
- Make sure that other water supplies, such as ponds, lakes and pools, are readily available for firefighters to take water from.
- Think whether fire engines can reach all of your property. Fire appliances may be larger and heavier than your normal traffic – for example, will cattle grids support the weight of our vehicles?
- Cut back trees to allow good access.
Farm accommodation
You are responsible for ensuring the safety of anyone paying to stay in any type of accommodation on your farm. This could include your own home if part of it is used as paid accommodation if, for example, you provide bed and breakfast or provide ‘live in’ staff accommodation as part of their employment contract (but not including tied accommodation such as separate annexes, houses or flats/apartments).
It also include any holiday lets in barns, caravans, chalets, campsites etc.
You must have a fire risk assessment for these areas to ensure that occupants are kept safe from fire and if there is a fire, they are alerted and able to escape quickly and safely. If you do not feel competent and confident to do this assessment yourself, you may need to appoint someone to do it for you. Our website has some advice on appointing someone: Fire risk assessments – Avon Fire and Rescue Service