Extinguishers
Before deciding which extinguisher you need, it is important to understand that each type of fire is different and falls into one of the following classifications:
Fires involving combustible solids such as wood, paper, textiles and straw.
Fires involving flammable liquids such as paint, petrol, paraffin and oil (but not cooking oil - see class F.)
Fires involving gasses such as natural gas, propane and butane etc.
Fires involving flammable metals.
Fires involving cooking oils.
Live electrical equipment fires.
It is therefore important to select the extinguisher which is best suited to the type of fire which could occur in your workplace. The Fire Extinguisher Man offers a wide range of extinguishers for tackling all types of fires.
The links below will provide you with full usage guidelines for each extinguisher type, along with details of the capacities available from us:
Water
For use on Class A fires.
Foam
For use on Class A and B fires.
Powder
For use on Class A, B, C and live electrical equipment fires.
CO2
For use on Class B and live electrical equipment fires.
Wet Chemical
For use on Class F and A fires.
Remember that for many years, fire extinguishers in the UK were colour-coded in accordance with their contents, i.e red for water, cream for foam, blue for powder and black for carbon dioxide. In 1997 the U.K. adopted European standards which dictated that all fire extinguishers should be red in colour.
A concession was negotiated which meant that a maximum of 10% of the body area of the extinguisher could be colour-coded according to its contents. It is therefore vitally important that you are aware of the contents of the extinguishers in your workplace (by training and signage) to ensure the correct extinguisher is used on a fire.
Please remember, you could have both types of colour-coding in your workplace - pre 1997 British Standard extinguishers and newer European Standard extinguishers.