In case of a fire, the fire department has to be alarmed.
Buildings with a fire alarm system
 | In buildings with a fire alarm system, the manual alarm (pressure head fire alarm) has to be used. It can always be found in the stairway area, in corridors, or in front of the information boards (escape route). The fire department is alarmed by triggering the manual alarm. An additional acoustic warning signal is triggered in the building. |
After that, if possible in that situation, an emergency call using the emergency phone number 0-112 can be made in order to provide the fire department with additional information. Important information may include:
- whether persons are in danger,
- what kind of material is burning (hazardous substances, gas bottles, environmentally dangerous substances),
- which floor is affected, etc.
Replacement measures must be taken to switch off fire alarm systems or individual smoke detectors or fire alarm lines. Switch-offs are authorized by the Occupational Safety Expert.
Buildings without a fire alarm system
0-112 | In buildings without a fire alarm system, the fire department has to be alarmed by telephone
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In general, the following applies: The person calling the fire department should give them instructions or name a person to do so. For non-authorized telephones the Hohenheim number is
22044 (Problem Reporting Point).
Alarm procedure:
- Declare that the fire department has to be alarmed
. - State the burning building, including the street name.
- State the name or number of the institute or the building number.
- What kind of material is burning?
- Are people in danger?
- Have the data confirmed.
Alarm signals
- In buildings with fire alarms:
When a fire alarm goes off, a typical fire alarm sound goes off (usually increasing and decreasing in volume). If this alarm sounds, everyone must leave the building. - In buildings without fire alarms:
In buildings without fire alarms, there is no acoustic alarm in the event of a fire. Here you must try to notify all people in the building and tell them to leave the building. The fire alarm can only be recalled by the head of the responding firefighter team.
Pay attention to instructions
When the firefighters arrive, you must follow their instructions. The responsible people from the institutes or institutions (fire assistants) should report to the fire department about the status of the evacuation of the building or from the individual areas, and information about the event which caused the fire can be given.
1. Leave the endangered area:
When triggering the alarm, everyone has to leave the endangered area, that means, the respective building.
2. Taking people with you
Injured or disabled persons have to be taken and moved out of the endangered area. If possible, further assistance should be sought. Provide first aid.
3. What to do in case of blocked escape routes:
If escape routes are blocked, e.g. by heavy smoke, use an alternative escape route (window, escape balcony). If that is not possible, seal the doors (with wet cloth or similar materials, if possible) and draw attention to yourself by waving your hand and shouting.
4. Escape routes
Always leave the building using the marked escape routes. If there is smoke in the room, you have to move close to the floor, since there is oxygen and better visibility. Breathing poisonous gases can be reduced by handkerchiefs or something similar when they are held in front of the mouth and nose.
5. Meeting points
After leaving the building, all persons have to go to their signposted and allocated meeting points as fast as possible. Instructions of the fire department or those in charge from the institutions or facilities have to be observed (observe information board in every building “What to do in case of fire”).
6. Elevators
In case of a fire, the use of elevators is prohibited.
Danger of suffocation!
At the University there are currently no safety applications for elevators installed that let an elevator only access smoke-free floors if a fire alarm is triggered while the elevator is in motion. This means that persons that are in the elevator must get out of it immediately at the next stop and leave the building via the stairway.
1. Attempting to put out a fire
1st Principle: Rescuing people takes precedence over firefighting!
2nd Principle: Never put yourself in danger!
If possible:
- Switch off electrical devices,
- Close the gas taps,
- Close windows and doors,
- Switch off ventilation systems.
- Do not operate the fire extinguisher until it is at the source of the fire.
Be careful when opening closed doors:
- Feel the temperature at the door. If the temperature is very high, do not attempt to extinguish the fire.
- Carefully open the door a crack, taking cover behind the door.
- Use a short extinguishing jet from fire extinguisher (in this
case only ABC powder fire extinguisher), then open door further and fight fire. - If the extinguishing attempt is aborted, close the door again without fail!
- Hold fire extinguisher vertically.
Extinguish from bottom to top and front to back (powder cloud protects from heat). Do not disperse fires of dormant liquids with a full jet, but place the extinguishing cloud over the source of the fire. Only extinguish with suitable extinguishing equipment.
In facilities with this marking
do not extinguish with water!
2. Treatment of burning persons
The correct tool when a person is on fire is the fire extinguisher. The extinguishing blanket does not meet modern standards and it brings additional dangers, e.g. when pressing the blanket, burning, or smoldering parts of the material are pressed intensively onto the skin, and this leads to additional severe burns. Fires on people must be extinguished quickly to save the burning person:
Prevent the burning person from running away.
Never use a fire blanket.
Always use a fire extinguisher.
This is how to properly extinguish a person on fire:
- Keep a minimum distance of 2 to 3 m from the burning person.
- If possible, do not apply the extinguishing agent to the face.
- Direct the first extinguishing jet to the upper body, i.e. chest and shoulders. In this way, you protect their neck and head from the flames.
- Then guide the extinguishing jet further down the body and to the sides.
- Initiate first aid measures. There's a danger of shock!
- Always follow the instructions for use of the fire extinguisher.