Don't Doubt Your Fire Extinguishers

2/25/2022 (Permalink)

If something flares up at your St Clair County home or business, act immediately and it will mitigate the amount of chaos and loss a fire can cause. Make sure your evacuation path is safe and will remain so, and the first line of defense is a fire extinguisher. Educating yourself as well as others on the proper containment before flames spread is key to promptly extinguish fire damage. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends the widely used P.A.S.S. acronym for remembering the simplified procedure of operating an extinguisher:

• Pull the safety-pin at the top to break the safety seal
• Aim for the bottom of the fire
• Squeeze the handle or button
• Sweep horizontally while still aiming at the fire’s base

Spraying should continue until the blaze disappears. If the fire is still blazing after the extinguisher’s contents are empty, you should immediately remove yourself and others from the premises. If the roar of the flames continues to grow or presents a threat to the evacuation route, get to safety and let emergency services arrive.

There are multiple different types of fire extinguishers. Some should definitely not be used in certain types of fires as they may worsen the fire damage. They have different labels displaying certain classes so you can easily distinguish their uses.

Class A are water-based extinguishers for cloth, wood, rubber, paper, and plastic fires. Class B use carbon dioxide to put out fires in flammable liquids such as oil and grease. Electrical fires need either a Class C or multipurpose dry chemical agent. 

A kitchen fire requires a special class K wet and dry chemical extinguisher that is specially made to handle intense deep fryer fires that Class B cannot.

In the aftermath of a fire, there will be damages. Your home or place of business can receive professional restoration from your local commercial fire restoration company. Knowing how to choose and use the appropriate fire extinguisher, you are able to lessen the fire damage to make restoration services even easier and cheaper. Fires don’t have to turn your profits red too.