Fire risk mitigation

[WannabeFramer]

This is a strange one, and more a vent I guess. There is an arsonist in town and I am getting worried.

I have called the fire brigade out twice in three weeks for fires near my workshop. Once a bin fire late at night (10 meters away) that I extinguished, but asked them to come and check all was safe. They confirmed it was deliberate. Then on Friday afternoon I was with a customer and noticed a large plume of smoke from the bushes bordering our car park/gardens. Some little s**t had set light to a pile of grass clippings beneath, right next to an empty building. The firemen said one of the nearby bins had also been lit but didn't take. They said they had been out 6 times in the last month to arson attempts in this little area.

Friday evening there was an attempt at one large abandoned building nearby. Last night a different empty building 300m away went up big-time and is gutted. I spoke to the police there this morning and so far they have no leads. No CCTV anywhere that captured anything. I am hoping the person(s) involved may have got it out of their system with this latest job but who knows?

Other than the concern that someone is brazen enough to do this whilst people are around, I am now looking at my business and wondering what else I can do to mitigate someone attempting on the workshop complex itself.

My bins are lockable and I now take them inside when I am not here so so there is nothing left against the building. I have a fire risk assessment which the council is happy with.

But inside, if it did go up, I would lose everything. The insurance is up-to-date but I am now thinking about customers work. Insurance and replacement value is one thing, but Great Auntie Maud's cross stitch could never be replaced.

I do not have CCTV but will speak to the council about installing if possible (it is their complex), but that wouldn't stop an actual attack itself.

Other than take all artwork home, which is not really practical and risks damage transporting to/from, is there anything else realistically I can do?

[Folly framing]

That sounds awful and so stressful! I was wondering if PEL have anything useful in terms of fireproof storage...
They do have some, but may just be too expensive?

https://www.preservationequipment.com/a ... re-storage

Sounds like you are already doing alot of sensible things!

Hoping others have some good advice xx

[vintage frames]

Another terrible situation but I think this will end up temporary only and the culprit will eventually be caught.

In the meantime, your best effort would be to remove the risk.
Take all your customer's art home with you. That way you can sleep easy at night and not have to worry about the what ifs

Your insurance will cover your materials, equipment and loss of earnings but no insurance will adequately cover the nebulous value of customer's artworks.

[WannabeFramer]

It is the customer artwork I am most worried about, everything else can be replaced.

I could find storage for unfinished work at home, but the practicality of transporting finished frames to/from home is a concern.

I don’t ask people to make an appointment to collect, so unless I change that would need to take frames to/from each day so they are ready for if the client pops in.

I would presumably also have to change my insurance to cover my home address, which it no longer does.

I realise I am most likely over worrying and overthinking, and I hope you are right that whoever is doing this will soon get bored!

[WannabeFramer]

That sounds awful and so stressful! I was wondering if PEL have anything useful in terms of fireproof storage...
They do have some, but may just be too expensive?

https://www.preservationequipment.com/a ... re-storage

Sounds like you are already doing alot of sensible things!

Hoping others have some good advice xx

Thanks - they are ouchy prices! I might investigate further but I wonder how items do actually fare in reality. Would anything inside remain in perfect condition or would they still suffer smoke and water damage.

[vintage frames]

Sorry, I missed your point.
It's all very well taking the un-framed artworks home, but I can see that's a problem when it comes to finished works.

We work on different models. When I'm finished with a job, I pack it up and its out the door.
You have to wait until your customer collects.

I'd still say, un-framed artwork is at less risk in your home than at present in your workshop, whatever the insurance.

[Justintime]

Without going into details about my own security setup on a public forum...there are WiFi based indoor/outdoor CCTV cameras available for a reasonable price that can backup to the cloud. Setup is important if you don't want to be alerted at dawn when a bird flies past (yup). "CCTV and Monitored Alarm" window stickers are also available. I have just looked it up and dummy CCTV cameras with red flashing light are cheap as chips. Imo all or any of these would make even an idiot think twice. Perhaps think about closing your work area blinds each night and leaving your glazed front door consultation area visible from the outside, from where a ceiling mounted CCTV camera with red flashing light would be clearly visible?
Have you checked what council-provided outside street lighting there is in your vicinity and that all of them are currently working at night. Is a motion sensor external light an option? With directional consideration to your neighbours of course. I'm wary of alarm boxes, which were popular in the past as I believe they can attract more attention than is necessary.
Fear is a toxic weapon that could do more harm to your business than a bad review on Google. Only you can decide what will ensure you get a good night's sleep. Being in regular contact with your local authorities and emergency services, as your are, is a sensible move. With your previous involvement in local council you should be well placed to bring this up at a public council meeting and demand some immediate action.

[WannabeFramer]

I don't think that CCTV would actually be that much of a deterrent. The first bin fire was in a well-lit area, with me present, my lights on, blinds open and my window facing it. There is also an obvious CCTV on a pole nearby. It wasn't recording apparently, but it didn't make a difference to the perpetrator. The second was 5pm next to a car park and pedestrian thoroughfare with people around. Once a fire is lit, it makes little difference whether they are on camera or not, the damage is done.

I have however found some smart smoke detectors that will alert my phone if activated, which would give me early warning at least.

I am going on holiday soon and will remove all customer's work beforehand, so if the worst happened at least they are safe.

In terms of fear, it isn't particularly common knowledge. The services are keeping quite tight-lipped and released very little information, even with the largest building fire.

All I can hope is that the idiot/s have now got the result they wanted and will move on, rather than escalate to inhabited buildings.

Thanks for letting me vent!

[Justintime]

I was referring to your fear. Problem shared...

[WannabeFramer]

Ah I see. I thought you meant people fearing my workshop was safe for their stuff.

It’s the heat getting to me, sorry!

[WannabeFramer]

Update: They got him (hopefully)!!!

A very surreal night last night that felt a bit like a game of cat and mouse on what started as an evening walk. Two fires (one on a business, another on an empty building) and a third attempted. We saw the guy (in hindsight pretty much in the act) whilst the services were dealing with the first fire only 5 minute walk away. In the time it took me to go and alert them of the dodgy person, he had started the second fire and walked away straight past everyone, brazen as you like. Photos were circulated, statements given. Another couple of false alarms with smoke detectors going off in other buildings nearby and my standing watch whilst waiting for the engines to arrive in case we could see him. I was seriously contemplating camping outside the workshops.

Then a fireman told me they think they found him. Hopefully enough evidence to pin them on him.

Smart smoke detectors are arriving today, and I think I will sleep easier now.

[Tudor Rose]

Wow!

So glad that hopefully this is all over for you. But the smoke detectors sound like a good idea anyway and one I'm sure others will adopt.

[WannabeFramer]

Definitely a relief, and shows we can't always assume bored teenagers are the ones causing aggro.

The smart detectors will alert my phone so I could get here quickly in the worst case, rather than relying on passers-by to notice an alarm going off. Hopefully they will never be needed but I feel happier.