Fire Safety Stick Stops Hillside Blaze When Strimmer Catches Fire

Case Study: Estate Worker Prevents a Machinery Fire Becoming a Potential Hillside Emergency

Working on a private estate in the Scottish Highlands means spending long days in remote locations where help is rarely just around the corner. Estate maintenance teams regularly operate utility vehicles, chainsaws, strimmers and other petrol-powered equipment across challenging terrain, often working alone and many minutes from assistance.

While machinery fires may not happen every day, the consequences can be severe. A small fuel fire can quickly destroy expensive equipment and, in dry conditions, has the potential to spread into surrounding vegetation, threatening wildlife, property and the wider landscape.

That is exactly the situation Daniel Palmer found himself facing during what should have been a routine afternoon maintaining footpaths.

Fortunately, every estate vehicle had already been equipped with a Fire Safety Stick.

That simple decision prevented what could have become a far more serious incident.

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A Routine Day Changed in Seconds

Daniel had driven around 15 minutes from the estate office before walking the remaining distance to begin clearing overgrown footpaths with a petrol strimmer.

Working alone on the hillside, he was around 20 minutes from the office, listening to music while carrying out what had started as an ordinary day’s work.

Then something didn’t feel right.

“I felt the strimmer sort of die a bit… it was smoking, so I dropped it on the floor, and that’s when it obviously all caught fire.”

Daniel believes a deteriorated fuel line or fuel system component on the ten-year-old machine allowed petrol to escape after the strimmer was dropped, creating an intense fuel-fed fire.

More Than Just a Machinery Fire

His first instinct was to stamp out the flames.

It didn’t work.

The burning fuel continued feeding both the strimmer itself and the surrounding ground.

With dry patches of vegetation nearby, Daniel’s thoughts immediately turned to the wider risk.

“I thought, God, what am I going to do? Because I don’t want to start a hill fire up this high.”

Although parts of the hillside remained green due to nearby streams, there were enough dry areas for the fire to spread if it wasn’t brought under control quickly.

Running Back for the Fire Safety Stick

Daniel suddenly remembered the Fire Safety Stick mounted on the door of the estate’s John Deere utility vehicle.

“Every time you open the door, you see it because it’s clipped onto the door, nice and visible.”

He ran back to the buggy, collected the Fire Safety Stick and returned to the fire.

By this point, the situation had worsened.

The burning fuel on the ground had become one fire while the strimmer itself had ignited several feet away, creating two separate fires that both needed controlling.

Easy to Use Under Pressure

Although Daniel had never used a Fire Safety Stick before, he found the simple pictorial instructions easy to follow, even while running on adrenaline.

“The pictures are actually quite self-explanatory. You’re not having to read it.”

Within seconds, he had activated the Fire Safety Stick and began moving between both fires.

“I was quite surprised that it actually put it out… to be honest, being a fuel fire, I had my reservations whether it was going to do it, but it did, thank God.”

The long discharge time allowed Daniel to alternate between the burning strimmer and the separate fuel fire, keeping both under control until they were fully extinguished.

Changing the Opinion of a Firefighter

One of the most remarkable aspects of Daniel’s story is his professional background.

Alongside working on the estate, Daniel also serves as a retained firefighter.

Like many people with firefighting experience, he admitted he’d previously been sceptical of aerosol-based fire suppression products.

“I’ve never sort of paid any attention to the Fire Safety Sticks because I thought they were a bit of a gimmick.”

That opinion changed after using one in a real emergency.

“I thought I’d make the effort to contact you and say, well, actually, I think your product’s quite good because of how well it put the fuel fire out.”

Daniel was particularly impressed by the Fire Safety Stick’s long discharge, which allowed him to continually move between the two fires.

“There was enough of the Fire Safety Stick chemical around both fires… it was suppressing the fire, enabling me to go from one to the other.”

A Successful Outcome

Once the fire had been extinguished, Daniel carefully checked the scorched ground to ensure there were no remaining hotspots before returning to the estate office to report the incident.

Thankfully, the fire had been contained before it spread into the surrounding hillside.

The damaged strimmer was recovered, and the incident was documented to help review what had happened and identify any lessons learned.

Daniel even captured photographs and a short video during the incident, providing rare real-world footage of the Fire Safety Stick being used to tackle an actual machinery fire.

Daniel explained that the air filter on the strimmer was removed afterwards to check if there was any hidden smouldering or flames within, which there was not.

Confidence Reinforced

The incident reinforced the estate’s existing approach to fire preparedness.

Following the fire, additional Fire Safety Sticks were ordered for estate vehicles and hill work kits, and staff are planning further familiarisation training so everyone understands how to use the equipment alongside the estate’s other firefighting resources.

Daniel also highlighted one of the product’s biggest advantages for estate work.

“They’re not as bulky as a fire extinguisher… if you’re up on the hill, you can have one in your bag or your pocket.”

For remote working, where carrying large extinguishers simply isn’t practical, having lightweight fire protection close at hand can make all the difference.

Built for Remote Working

Whether maintaining estates, working in forestry or managing farmland, people often find themselves operating machinery in locations where immediate assistance simply isn’t available.

The Fire Safety Stick has become an increasingly popular choice because it offers:

Compact, lightweight design that’s easy to carry on utility vehicles or in backpacks.
Long discharge time for tackling developing fires.
Effective suppression of early-stage petrol and machinery fires.
No corrosive powder residue to damage valuable equipment.
A minimum 15-year shelf life with no servicing requirements.

These features make it particularly well-suited to remote working environments where space is limited and reliability is essential.

Protecting More Than Equipment

For those working in remote environments, a fire doesn’t just threaten a piece of machinery.

It can threaten the surrounding countryside, valuable habitats, livelihoods and the safety of those working alone.

Daniel’s experience demonstrates how having the right fire suppression tool immediately available can prevent a small machinery fire from becoming something much more serious.

What began as a fuel-fed strimmer fire on a remote hillside was stopped before it could spread.

Sometimes, the difference between a damaged machine and a major incident is simply having the right equipment within reach.