Visual record showing distribution of insured properties in a given area. Identifies possibility of catastrophic fire losses through accumulation of risk.
Insurance Encyclopedia
Fire Maps
A visual record of the distribution of Fire Insurance written by all reporting insurers placed on sectional maps. The maps show graphically the distribution of the insured’s covered properties in a given area and make it possible to avoid catastrophic losses.
Fire maps (Property Insurance)
Maps that show all fire insurance written by all insurers. These maps are a visual representation of the insured’s covered risks in the area, which helps the insurer to avoid catastrophic losses.
Fire mark
An insignia, attached to the outside of a house that represented the insurer of the house. There were used commonly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to indicate which properties were insured. Property owners would pay fire fighting companies in advance and in return receive a fire mark in order to identify the property as having purchased coverage.
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An insignia, generally metal, once placed on buildings insured by the insurer represented by the mark. Since the insurers had their own fire brigades, they had to check the mark on a burning building to determine whether or not they should extinguish the fire.
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UK: Plaques or medallions fixed on walls as a means of identifying the insurer of that property. The early fire insurers owned their own fire brigades and could be called to their own’ fires. See FIRE PLATE.
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Term used to describe the successors to the fire mark in the later 19th and earlier 20th century. They are mostly of copper or tin and do not bear a policy number.
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UK: The successor to the fire mark used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 as amended by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999
In order to comply an employer must: (a) carry out a fire risk assessment, even if holding a fire certificate; (b) ensure that the fire risk can be detected and people suitably warned; (c) ensure that people can escape safely; (d) provide adequate firefighting equipment; (e) ensure that people know what to do in the event of fire; (f) check and maintain all fire safety equipment and provisions. Enforcement is by the local fire brigade.
Fire Precautions Act 1971
A fire certificate is needed if more than 20 people are employed in the building, or more than 10 people are working other than on the ground floor, or if explosive or highly flammable materials are used or stored. Hotels and boarding houses require a fire certificate if sleeping accommodation is provided for more than six persons, or if any bedrooms are above the first floor or below ground floor. Certificates are issued by the fire authority when the owner or occupier has provided and maintained escape routes, fire fighting equipment and fire alarm systems as required. The Act overlaps with the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 as amended by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999.
Fire prevention
Measures directed at reducing the incidence of fires. It includes public education, law enforcement and reduction of fire hazards and risks often at the instigation of insurers. See FIRE PROTECTION.
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Measures taken to prevent the outbreak of a fire.
Fire Prevention (Metropolis) Act 1774
Section 83 requires insurers to ensure that fire insurance money is spent on reinstatement of buildings in England and Wales up to the sum insured if requested by any party having an interest in the property or upon any suspicion that the claim is fraudulent.
Fire Proof (Construction)
The term Fire proof is a misnomer. Fire occurring in an adjoining building or in the combustible contents of a building may cause damage to any structure. Therefore, no building can accurately be termed Fire proof. The term Fire-resistive is a better description of modern incombustible construction.
Fire protection
All methods of controlling and extinguishing fires to protect property and human life from the damage and harm caused by fire. It includes construction safeguards, exit facilities, the installation of fire alarms, fire-detecting equipment and fire extinguishing equipment such as automatic sprinklers. The measures aim is to reduce the severity of the consequences of a fire. See FIRE PREVENTION.
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All measures for the prevention, detection, extinguishment of Fire, the protection of human life and the preservation of property. More narrowly, the methods of controlling or extinguishing Fire. Private Fire Protection : Fire protection provides by the owner or occupant of a property or by some non-public entity hired to provide such protection. Most private Fire protection is achieved through Fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems. Public Fire Protection : Fire protection provided by a municipal or other governmental authority to all properties over which that authority has jurisdiction. Most public Fire protection is achieved though Fire or police department personnel and equipment.Fire Resistance : A measure of the extent to which a building by its construction will resist fire and so reduce its spread.