Understanding the Workplace Fire and Types of Fire Extinguishers | Health and Safety

The very first step in selecting a proper fire extinguishers for your home, car or workplace, here we will discuss some common fire extinguishers, types and what kind of fires they're best suited for. Before we talk about the types of fire and fire extinguishers though it's important that you understand how fire actually works. Essentially there are three main elements that must be present for a fire to come in existence, and these elements include oxygen to sustain combustion, heat to raise the material to its ignition temperature, and fuel to support the combustion. When these elements combine, it creates a chemical reaction which can cause fire, in order to extinguish any fire, you must remove at least one of these four elements as we go over the different types of fire extinguishers you will see and how they each work differently based on the type of fire you're fighting.

Types of Fire Extinguisher and their uses-

Water-Fire Extinguisher and Water with additive Fire extinguishers are all color-coded Red on the extinguisher description panel. Basic Instructions on how to operate them are printed on the canister. You should only use them on flammable solids like wood, paper, textiles, and furnishings. It can be very dangerous to use them on other types of fire.

Carbon Dioxide or CO2 Fire Extinguishers are color-coded black on the extinguisher description panel and operating instructions can be found on the canister. Although Carbon dioxide extinguishers are primarily for use on flammable liquid fires like petrol, oils and petroleum-based spirits, we also recommend them for fires in electrical and electronic equipment as the CO2 gas won’t damage your computer or gadgetry. As the gas discharge is extremely cold avoid handling the special discharge horn when using.

Foam Fire Extinguishers are color-coded cream on the identification panel and again carry basic operating instructions. Larger sizes normally have an extension hose and low-pressure nozzle. They are intended for use on flammable liquids like petrol, oils and solvents. As they are water-based they also extinguish flammable solids like wood, paper and textiles.

Dry Powder (DCP) Fire Extinguisher are color-coded blue and are available in a wide choice of sizes and are very versatile. You can use them on fires involving flammable solids, flammable liquids, and also flammable gases such as propane and butane. They also work on fires caused by electrical equipment but unlike CO2 the powder sets under heat so can leave a sticky residue.

Wet Chemical Fire Extinguisher is color-coded yellow on the identification panel. They contain a special chemical formulation that reacts with cooking fat and cooking oil fires to extinguish the fire so are a must for the commercial kitchen. You can now buy special foam formulations that are effective on cooking fat fires in smaller canisters for home use. 

Ball Fire Extinguisher is a new type of A, B & C fire extinguisher comes in a shape of ball, the main function of ball fire is very simple, just through the ball fire in the middle of fire, the ball fire self-detonates and explodes within 3 to 5 second and spread non-toxic chemical to extinguish the fire.

P.A.S.S Method for using a fire extinguisher-

Every company is going to have someone in charge of checking these visually on a monthly basis every year, you’ll have them sent the way to be checked by the professionals but the monthly checks are pretty simple. Let’s make sure that they're charged, let’s make sure all the parts are in place that the hose is in good condition, they’re mounted in the right place. It's easy to lose track of one of these things if they get used, make sure it gets put back, gets recharged because you never know when you're going to, need to use one if you happen upon a fire that is small enough for you to actually fight with. One of these smaller fire extinguishers all you have to remember is the acronym PASS. PASS helps us learn how to use this thing safely and not forget it when our mind is being preoccupied by the blaze P is for pole we’re going to pull the pin, the pin is here to make sure that this thing doesn’t accidentally get discharged it’s really the only thing that's stopping the two levers from coming together and discharging the unit. When we pull the pin make sure we're not squeezing together we're just holding on the underside it should be pretty easy to pull. It should have some sort of at ether on it or maybe a plastic band. discard both of those things and that’s what we're going to go ahead and grab this nozzle and move on to our next letter grab this nozzle we're going to aim at the base of the fire, stay a nice safe distance away and S is for squeeze when we squeeze this handle will discharge the unit and the last thing we're going to do is sweep we're going to sweep at the base of the fire and try to put out the flames from the base of the fire.