Burns are one of the most, if not the most, painful of injuries. Anything you can do to prevent unexpected fires will of course decrease the likelihood of experiencing, or causing someone else to experience, a burn injury. One of the basic ways to prevent burns is to eliminate what is needed for fire to be possible.
Just like it takes three sides to make a triangle, it also takes three things to make a fire. You must have heat, air, and fuel in order to have a fire – two of the three won't work, you must have all three. Once you have all three in the right proportion, then you have the chemical reaction called fire.
Fuel - Jobsites and home sites abound with fuel. Fuel can be solids like wood scraps, trash, or rags; it can be a liquid like gasoline or solvent, or it can be a gas such as propane. Almost anything can act as a fuel. Fuel is the easiest element of the fire triangle to remove and often is taken care of with simple housekeeping.
Air - Air is almost everywhere and a part of the fire triangle that is hard to remove. We take it away when we smother a fire, like throwing dirt on a campfire.
Heat - Fortunately heat is around a lot less than the other two or we would have to be worrying all the time. Heat sources can include sparks from welding, cigarette butts, heating devices, electrical shorts, hot exhaust pipes, or friction from power tools. Always make sure you have removed fuel when you use a heat source.
Heat, air, and fuel must be in the proper proportion for fire to occur. Imagine trying to build a campfire with matches and wet twigs in a rain storm. You could freeze first. But a spark from static electricity can ignite gasoline vapors causing a flash fire without any effort at all. It just depends on the proportions.
Basic ways to keep the fire triangle apart include: