Businesses may feel the impact of fire damage in many different areas. If a business is severely damaged due to a fire, not only is the actual physical structure impaired, but output or sales will be affected. In addition, a business may incur new production costs arising from the fire damage; a business may have to temporarily relocate, purchase new equipment and supplies, or perhaps it would close permanently. All of these effects may also force a reduction in employment

The kinds of risks that businesses can face include:

• Risk of fire in the building - see also Fire Behaviour:Research Reports
  
• Risk of flooding in the area - see also Natural Hazards: Research reports
  
• Risk of chemical spill in the area - see also Hazardous Materials: Research reports
  
• Risk of upstream/downstream losses by suppliers, vendors, customer - see also Natural Hazards: Research reports

Please note that members-only case studies for Fire Behaviour in many scenarios, Natural Hazards and Hazardous Materials are also available on the Knowledge Web.

Fires in industrial premises present particular challenges to fire-fighters as they involve a wide range of machinery, industrial processes and products. Often, special fire-fighting techniques have to be used. For example, foam rather than plain water may be used to smother chemical fires. Fires inside industrial machinery can be hard to get to and there may be the risk of dust or gas explosions.

Fires in bulk storage areas can also be difficult; the product being stored may be flammable, explosive, corrosive or poisonous and it can be difficult for fire-fighters to get at the seat of the fire to put it out. For example, fires in piles of car tyres create large quantities of toxic smoke and can take days to put out as the unburnt tyres have to be moved away from the burning tyres. While fighting these sorts of fires fire services also monitor the effect of the fire on the environment and take measures to limit the damage, for example by building dams to contain the water running off the fire so that it does not pollute the environment.

Other commercial/industrial fire incidents include car fires, train fires, fires in trucks /semi-trailers, aircraft fires, ships fires including bulk cargo ships, passenger ships and pleasure craft. Transport fires can also involve hazardous materials, such as tankers full of petrol or containers of chemicals.