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Fire Safety for Forest Schools

Fire Safety for Forest Schools


Fire Safety for Forest SchoolsSafety is always the primary consideration when you are planning any forest school activity. This is never more important than when you are arranging any activity involving fire.

Fire and the use of bonfires can be at the centre of any camping trip and provides the basis of a number of exciting group activities. For forest schools and larger groups it can also provide a means of cooking and be the focal point and hub for group sessions.

Fire is nothing to be scared of providing the correct precautions are taken and the potential risks are identified and prevented. When working with large groups of children in the wild, particularly when fire is involved, a full risk assessment it essential to help minimise the possibility of accidents or injury.

Whilst it is essential that all possibly steps are taken to prevent injury while working with fire, it is equally important to understand that, by their nature, accidents DO happen and to ensure that you are prepared to administer treatment should the worst happen.

It is important that, when you are running any outdoor or forest school activity, that you have both the correct knowledge and also the correct kit to treat any potential burns or injuries. Acting fast in the event of a fire-related accident can minimise injuries so it is essential that you are prepared. We recommend including the following first aid items in your burns kit:

Fire Safety for Forest SchoolsBurn gel is an essential for any fire safety or burns kit. Burns Gel provides much faster relief to the initial burn than water and are ideal to have to hand when fire lighting or cooking outdoors. This cool gel provides effective initial relief/treatment of burns caused by fire, hot water, sun or steam, Depending on the size of groups that you typically work with, we would typically recommend having at least a dozen burn gel sachets in your fire safety kit.

Dressings will also make up part of your essential burns kit. It is important to ensure you have dressings in a number of sizes to effectively administer first aid to burns injuries. In addition, there are dressing specifically designed for burns which have integrated burn gel to provide protection from infection whilst offering instant pain relief rot the infected area.

Fire Safety for Forest SchoolsThere are a number of other essential items to be sure to include in your burns kit. A pair of scissors are useful for cutting and preparing dressings, a pair of disposable rubber/latex gloves to help prevent infection when you are treating burns (or other injuries) and some general bandages for the protection of wounds.

To take all the hassle out of preparing a fire safety kit for your forest school activities, we have put together a handy Forest School Burns Kit. This kit contains all the essentials for the initial treatment and relief of fire/heat related injuries and is contained in a compact and portable case. You can buy the forest school burns kit online now.

Fire Safety for Forest SchoolsAt Forest School Shop we also stock a number of Fire Safety Accessories suitable for campfire activities and outdoor cooking. Fire Gloves offer protection when lighting fires or when adding fuel/wood to an active bonfire. Fire Buckets are often included as a requirement of risk assessments when working with fire in a forest school environment. Regardless, it is always advisable to have a fire bucket at hand to deal with any occasions where a fire may get out of control. We also stock fire blankets for peace of mind when dealing with fires in a forest school or other outdoor environment.

For our complete range of fire safety equipment and to buy online, visit the Fire Safety section of our  website.


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