Fire Safety and Fire Extinguishers

Fire Safety and Fire Extinguishers are one of the most crucial things to consider while working in an environment that might impose fire safety risk. When it comes to fire safety, a lot of factors are involved which could cause the situation to easily get out of hands. For this reason, and the harmful impact of accidents related to fire, it is necessary to have fire extinguishers at your disposal thus ensuring personal safety as well as the safety of the people around you.

The key to proper fire safety is to ensure that the fire is detected at an early stage. The earlier the fire is detected, the easier it is to tone down the situation and safely rescue everyone involved in the situation. For this purpose, people can purchase and install fire alarm systems that could aid the process of fire detection. Once the fire has been detected, the next step would be to effectively put out the fire. For this, it is vital to make sure that you have an effective fire extinguisher in your vicinity. In this article, we will explore the hazards related to fire safety, precautions that can be taken to minimise losses as well as the ideal fire extinguishers that users can opt for.

Fire Safety

Whether you are a restaurant owner, have your Institute, work in an office, or stay at home, there are chances for a fire accident to occur. This is because many things in our surroundings could trigger a fire unless proper precautions are taken to avoid any unfortunate incidents related to fire. For this reason, we can effectively conclude that fire protection equipment is not a privilege, but a necessity that must be present in our surroundings at all times.

When we talk about fire incidents, we can break them down into three main components, i.e. the source of ignition, the source of fuel, and sources of oxygen. when it comes to ignition, it is aided by Heaters, lighters, open flames, electrical equipment that tends to watermark and cause sparks, and smokers’ materials including cigarettes, matches, etc. The sources of fuel include everyday objects that wood, paper, plastic, foam, rubber, furniture, packaging material, including plastics, as well as everyday waste items. last but not the least, the sources of oxygen consist of the air around us, thus making it very hazardous.

What precautions can be taken to avoid a fire incident?
To prevent any incidents from occurring in the future, it is advisable to carry out fire risk assessments, that can give people an overall idea of how risky a fire-related situation can get. It has been carried out, decisions can be made about which fire safety equipment should be purchased and the necessary training required to utilise them.

It is recommended and advisable to keep objects that are a source of ignition and a source of fuel in close vicinity of each other. For instance, it is not advisable to keep wood, plastic or rubber materials close to naked flames or heaters. Another very good idea would be to ensure that the waste material is properly disposed of and not piled up in some corner of a room or garden from where it can easily catch fire. If you are a smoker and enjoy a cigarette in your garden, then make sure you dispose of your cigarette ends in a metal bin away from combustible materials.

Installing fire alarms, smoke alarms and fire alarm bells is an effective and quick way to ensure safety with a potential fire hazard area. This could be very beneficial as people would immediately focus on evacuating the premises instead of running all over the place to ensure that everyone in the area is informed. Last but not the least, it is highly advisable to ensure that make sure that there is firefighting equipment present on the premises and some people are trained in its usage. Other precautions include ensuring that fire and emergency exits remain free and are never blocked whatsoever. Fire drills are also another effective method of ensuring that is possible fire-related situation does not get out of hands and practice the prompt response that is essential to deal with the situation.

Let us now look at the types of fire extinguishers that are available and the ones that are apt for different situations.

Choosing the right fire extinguisher
An important tool in putting out fires is fire extinguishers. However, there are different types of Fire extinguishers and choosing the right one can aid the process of putting out the fire. Different extinguishers are designed while keeping in mind different situations, thus the chemicals used in the production of certain extinguisher might not be the same as that of another extinguisher. There is a wide variety of extinguishers that are available in the market, hence choosing the right extinguisher can prove to either be confusing and a challenge for some people while others might find it super convenient.

One of the most common types of fire extinguishers includes the water extinguisher. This is a standard fire extinguisher Is built with the idea of putting out Class A fires. Overall, the water extinguisher is a cheaper alternative. These types of fire extinguisher can put out fires caused due to everyday items like paper, wood and textile items. An upgrade to the water extinguisher is the water additive fire extinguishers. these are a shift away from the traditional design of the water extinguishers. There’s a production process that involves the addition of certain chemicals that can speed up the firefighting process while making it more effective simultaneously. Both, the water extinguisher and water additive extinguisher, are designed to put out Class A fires.

Other extinguishers include the CO2 extinguisher. These extinguishers are ideal for putting out fires in areas that consist of electrical equipment such as cable wires, monitors, PCs and any other electrical equipment that might be found in offices. This extinguisher does not leave any residue behind which is why it has gained popularity and has quickly become the ideal choice for putting out fires.

The fourth type of fire extinguishers that we will discuss is the AFFF Foam extinguishers. Similar to the CO2 extinguishers, the AFFF Foam extinguishers have also gained significant popularity due to their dual effectiveness. This means that the above-mentioned fire extinguisher can be used to put out fires that belong to both, class A and class B, and can also be considered as a multipurpose fire extinguisher. Not only does the AFF Foam extinguisher capable of putting out fires belonging to two different classes, but it does also the job effectively why minimising losses caused by the unfortunate fire incident.

Since we already mentioned fire extinguishers that can serve the purpose for more than one class type, it is important to mention the dry powder extinguishers. these types of Fire extinguishers have quickly become the more preferred choice due to their versatile nature as they can be used effectively to put out fires belonging to any class. However, like every other thing, the dry powder extinguishers also have their limitations i.e., they are unable to put out fires belonging to class F.

Last but not the least, there are wet chemical extinguishers. These fire extinguishers are more common in day-to-day household activities. The wet chemical Fire extinguishers are capable of putting out fires that start nearby the likes of deep fryers that contain cooking oils or fats. Their effectiveness in the kitchen is one of the main reasons why the wet chemical extinguishers are ideal for usage in commercial kitchens and other similar locations.

Conclusion
When it comes to purchasing fire extinguishers, it is highly recommended that the person buying the fire extinguisher should carefully consider the surroundings for which he is buying fire extinguishers and if the fire extinguisher that he is purchasing is capable of serving the relevant purpose. despite the wide variety of available fire extinguishers, it can become very difficult to choose which Fire extinguisher to opt for. Once fire extinguishers have been bought and used, people have to chance of either getting their fire extinguishers refilled a purchasing an entirely new fire extinguisher.

Finding fire extinguishers might be a solution to fire-related incidents, However, it is more advisable to take steps that could minimise the chances of a fire-related incident occurring in the first place. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that all necessary steps have been executed that have the potential of reducing the chances of such incidents in the first place. We hope this article proved to be insightful about fire safety and fire extinguishers. To see our products and services click here