Fire Safety on Jobsites: How to Prevent and Prepare for an Emergency

Construction jobsites are filled with hidden fire hazards, especially during hot work—here’s how to reduce risks, equip crews, and stay ready when seconds count.

• By Steve Lockwood
• Jan 07, 2026

Fire safety on jobsites: How to prevent and be ready for an emergency

Fire emergencies can strike without warning, especially on a hot-work jobsite. Job sites often contain flammable materials such as wood framing, insulation, adhesives, fuels, chemicals, plastics, and other objects that may not appear hazardous but are flammable. Activities such as welding, cutting, grinding, or soldering that create sparks, flames, or heat pose significant fire risks, especially around these materials. Thankfully, there are several steps you can take to prevent a fire emergency and keep your crew safe.

Identify fuel sources

Walk the site to ensure all common combustible materials are removed. Wood, cardboard, plastic, oily rags, flammable liquids/gases, and how close they are to potential ignition sources like welding, sports, or hot machinery.

Additionally, it’s pivotal to look for hot surfaces, overloaded circuits, or friction points. One of the most overlooked causes of job-site fires is overloaded electrical circuits. Look for physical indicators such as flickering lights, buzzing, or burning smells.

Keep the area clean

On job sites, hot work poses the most significant risk of fire emergencies. Sparks can travel up to 35 feet or more, igniting materials out of sight, which is especially dangerous because it can lead to fires being discovered too late.

It’s pivotal to keep the worksite clean and organized. Anything flammable, including oily rags, fuels, solvents, plastics, plywood, and even accumulated waste, must be kept at least 35 feet away or discarded. Utilize screens and fire blankets to protect surrounding materials that can’t be moved.

Have equipment gear ready

Due to ongoing construction, fire sprinkler systems are typically not operational. Therefore, it’s critical to be proactive regarding fire safety equipment.

Having a large, 20-pound ABC fire extinguisher within 35 feet of the active-work site. Depending on the size of the jobsite, you may need multiple. Extinguishers should be kept within 40 feet of every exit and within 75 feet of each other.

It’s pivotal that workers keep a fire extinguisher in their truck. The fact of the matter is, you never know when a fire is going to break out, especially on a job site. The more people who keep extinguishers in their trucks, the better. This helps ensure that even if on-site fire extinguishers have been misplaced or forgotten, you won’t be left empty-handed.

Ensure all fire extinguishers are inspected annually and maintained every 6 months, including a professional complete teardown, rebuild, and recharge of the cylinder.

Monthly safety meetings

It’s critical to hold monthly in-depth safety meetings, given the constant turnover of personnel. The employees that you trained the month prior might not be the same workers on site as the project progresses.

During these meetings, review fire extinguisher locations, types, and techniques. Go over hazardous materials, fire risks associated with machinery, enforce smoking policies, emergency response, and ensure all workers know not to re-enter the job site until it’s been cleared as safe by the fire department.

Emphasize the fire safety plan by going over routes and assigning roles. You must have a lead who can communicate with emergency services, assign meeting spots, and keep track of crew members.

This is also a good time to ensure all workers have a small fire extinguisher in their vehicles.

Prepare for emergencies weekly

When the general contractor or site manager conducts weekly tailgate meetings, it’s important review that the workers are prepared for an emergency if one were to occur. The weekly meetings provide the perfect opportunity to refresh on housekeeping and protocols.

Remind them to clean up and discard all junk and debris. Cigarette buds, wrappers, and other debris are a recipe for disaster.

Having an emergency evacuation plan is essential. Have an area picked out over 50 feet away from the jobsite to meet up if there’s a fire emergency. During this meeting, make sure everyone knows their routes, assembly points, and buddy system.

Have a hands-on fire extinguisher demonstration. This will ensure workers are confident and prepared in the event of an emergency.

Fire hazards can be deadly, but the reality is that they're really easy to prevent. Being proactive, having an emergency plan in place, keeping equipment up to date, and constantly holding your crew accountable for keeping the work area clean of debris can mean the difference between life and death.