Fire extinguishers are on the front line of fire protection for most facilities and homes along with fire alarms. Making sure you have the correct fire extinguisher for the application you would need it for is very important. Depending on where you have the fire extinguisher placed, whether be in your home, kitchen, garage, boat, car, paint booth, shop or any of the like, there are extinguishers that are designed to fight specific kinds of fires. Fires are classified by what type of substance is burning. Whether it be a solid substance, electrical, gas, or liquid.
Class A fires are fires that are burning a solid material like wood, cloth, paper, and rubber. These fires can be put out with your standard fire extinguishers. Foam extinguishers are the most commonly used fire extinguisher in this type of fire. Class B fires are fires that are burning flammable liquids like grease, oil, gas, and the like. This fire is also best put out with a foam extinguisher. Class A and B are your more common house fires and this extinguisher is the most common extinguisher in households.
Class C fires are fires that are burning electrical equipment. These types of fires are dangerous and you do not want to use a foam fire extinguisher for this type of fire. This type of fire is best fought with a Carbon Dioxide or Dry Chemical extinguisher. Depending on the type of facility you have, you may need to have one of these types of extinguisher on hand. Class K fires are your standard kitchen fires that are burning cooking oils and grease and byproduct fats. This type of fire is best fought with an extinguisher designed for class K fires. The extinguisher has a potassium acetate based agent that is designed to fight this type of fire.
Most of your standard fire extinguishers are rated for A, B, and C and are sold in most stores. Every commercial kitchen most likely have a kitchen hood fire suppression system along with Class K fire extinguishers to fight that type of fire along with a standard extinguisher. Fire extinguishers are only effective if they are maintained and inspected regularly. Also having the proper placement throughout your facility and home is very important as well.
At International Fire Protection, we provide fire extinguisher service and inspections that will meet the NFPA code for your type of facility if applicable. We also do annual inspections for all those that want the peace of mind knowing they are inspected and functional. We do these inspections at part of our total fire protection services that we offer to ensure that all the parts and gauges are working properly. We also provide fire extinguishers and have all the fire extinguishers that would meet your specific needs and the fire code for your type of building. Contact us today for more information.
