Are you and your horses protected against FIRE when transporting?

The bigger fire risk around horses is usually during their transportation. How good is the fire protection for your horsebox or trailer?

Recently, there seem to be more and more incidents with fires and horse boxes. Sadly, occasionally leading to fatalities of the horses. There are many factors whether it is from the state of the engine, fuel system or electrical heat. Even potentially from overheating brakes due to the heavy loads. The aim, of course, is that the fire should be caught and safely extinguished before it becomes a much greater risk to yourselves and the livestock on board. Doing so can potentially avoid the added danger of needing to release the horses from the vehicle by the roadside, thereby creating a risk to them and other road users.

Again, such a situation can be avoided if, within quick and easy reach, there is a Fire Safety Sticks on board. Not only can it quickly and easily extinguish that fire but since it doesn’t cause any additional damage to the vehicle, depending on what the cause of the fire was, it is possible that once checked for safety, the horse box or towing vehicle can continue with the journey. This has been the case with several fires already documented where the fire has been extinguished on the vehicle, and once checked was able to continue with their journey. A traditional dry powder extinguisher would have caused so much damage to the whole area of the fire that typically the vehicle would likely be beyond repair.

Being able to deal with such an emergency quickly and so effectively, thereby causing much less stress and disruption to the horses, will of course be a much better outcome for all.

Since the Fire Safety Stick is certified to do many types of fire classifications, it means it is not just for the horsebox. For those that also have sleeping and cooking accommodation in the vehicle, it can also be ready for any possible cooking fires involving burning oil or fats and it won’t leave a horrible, dangerous mess afterwards.

Often those that have bought a traditional pressurised fire extinguisher, it is likely to be a 1kg dry powder extinguisher, itself is a capable extinguisher for several fire classes (although not for cooking fires!). However, what people don’t realise is that they only typically have a shelf life of 5 years (unlike the 15 years of the Fire Safety Stick) but more importantly that these traditional extinguishers should be serviced each year. Often the manufacturers may say that they are service free, but this is based on it being stored, static and at a constant indoor temperature. In a vehicle, however, it is subjected to vibrations and a wide range of temperature fluctuations, the result of which means that the powder inside may compact and clump together. Of course, the owner can give it a regular shake to break up the larger clumps but may not eliminate the smaller ones, these can easily block the internal parts and so may reduce the maximum discharge time of just 7 seconds to around only 2-3 seconds. With the Fire Safety Stick, however, it has a minimum discharge of at least 50 seconds whether is 1 year or 15 years old.

Are you aware of the health risks of some traditional extinguishers?

Dry powder is the most commonly carried within vehicles such as horse boxes. It is a very effective agent as an extinguisher, it can extinguish many classes of fire but it does come with some potential health risks, not only to yourself but also potentially to animals also. It can cause respiratory irritations as well as other irritations to the skin, as well as leading to possible digestive tract problems. There is also documented evidence that if inhaled it will elevate the heart rate. Of course, the immediate risk of the fire is greater and so if all that is at hand, is a dry powder extinguisher for solid combustibles, flammable liquid or electrical fires, and the user knows the correct technique to use it, it is safe to fight the fire at those early stages, then one should potentially do so.

However, with the Fire Safety Stick, there is now an alternative. There are no health risks with the discharging gas or active agent, once it has been activated, so it’s safe to use within the proximately of you and the horse. Incidentally, it even has no detrimental effects on the environment or the ozone layer either. It leaves no damaging mess or residue whatsoever afterwards!