Different ways of Fire Extinguishers For Your Home

Before you set out a fire you want to know what type of material is burning. Mostly everyone knows what a fire extinguisher is and the basics of how to make use of it. I would like to say that everybody knows, but that is just not so.

 There are different types of extinguishers for different ways of fires. Yes there are different ways of fires, not just hot and hotter fires also. A fire will different depending on the way of material burning and if someone needs to extinguish a fire they want to know what is burning and the greatest extinguisher for the job, because sometimes water will make things worse.

One of the most common fires in households is the ordinary combustible fire. The materials burning in these fires are considered ordinary combustible materials. These are things that people have all around their houses like wood, paper, cloth, rubber, and plastics. Nothing special is needed to put out an ordinary combustible fire, just water. All that water does to these fires is lower their temperature below the materials ignition temperature.

·         Ordinary combustible fires are considered Class "A" fires in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Next there is flammable liquids and gas fires. This is where things get a little more complicated, because these fires are caused by flammable/combustible liquids and gasses. Things that fall under this category would be gasoline, oil, paint, and alcohol. With these fires water is not a good extinguishing agent, because the fires will only float on top of the water and your fire will only get worse. Instead these fires need to be smothered, or blanketed. What this does is that it takes away the oxygen the fire needs to burn and the fire goes out.

·         Both flammable liquid and gas fires are considered Class "B" Fires in the USA

·         Europe, Asia, and Australia flammable liquids are Class "B" fires and flammable gases are Class "C" Fires.

Electrical fires are no joke and water should definitely not be used on an electrical fire, or a bad day may become a worse day. If something like a TV, game console, computer, or transformer is on fire it is considered a Class "C" fire.

The fastest way that to put out one of these fires is too simple De-energize it (pull the plug). Once the electricity is out treat the fire as a Class "A" fire. Chances are that the fire will extinguish itself once De-energized and nothing else will need to be applied. If the burning electrical appliance can not be unplugged use a nonconducting extinguishing agent like Halon, dry chemical, or carbon dioxide.

·         In the USA Electrical Fires are considered Class "C" Fires.

·         In Australia and Asia Electrical fires are considered Class "E".

·         Europe does not have an electrical fire classification.

Most households do not need to worry about combustible Metals, but we'll mention it. This is something like: aluminium, magnesium, or titanium and they burn HOT, so don’t ever use water. In the fire department Class "D" fire extinguishers are used on class "D" Fires. These materials are used to cover the burning materials. If there is a burning metal fire in a home the occupant needs to just get out and be sure to pass that on to any responding fire personnel. The fire department we will use water if Class "D" extinguishing agent.

·         A combustible metal fire is rated Class "D" in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

The last fire is a cooking oil or fat fire. These fire classifications are primarily used in restaurant kitchens. Households don’t need to worry, because a fire extinguisher with a Class "B" fire rating will extinguish cooking oils and fats. Cooking oil or fat fires classification are just sub-classifications of Class "B" fires.

·         In the USA these fires are class "K"

·         In Europe, Asia, and Australia they are class "F" Fires

Even though five types of fire extinguisher classes were mentioned don’t worry, because you will not need five different types of fire extinguishers in a home. Most households don’t need to worry about Class "D" fire fires and Class "K" extinguishing agents are normally located in restaurant kitchens.

 The main Home Fire Extinguishers are ABC Extinguishers. There are also AB and BC combination fire extinguishers, but ABC is the most common.

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