Peter Staack Product Testimonials & Reviews

In most places, fire extinguishers are prevalent, yet often go unseen by most people. The concept of a fire extinguisher is simple, and yet I've experienced many people who don't know how to use one safely and/or effectively. The first Tuesday of every month, I inspect all the fire extinguishers I own, as well as at my main clients' office. While I made my rounds, my boss mentioned he had a close call a few weeks ago, where a short circuit in a faulty GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter - i.e., those electrical sockets with the red and black buttons) started smoldering at one of his construction projects, and he couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work. It started a small fire before the power was cut, but they were able to quickly smother it. He asked about it, and I figured he made the same mistake that a lot of people make - trying to pull the pin, while holding the handle.

IMO, it's a design fault that when holding many fire extinguishers by the handle, it pinches the pin and makes it difficult or impossible to pull. This is magnified when panic sets in, and people death-grip the handles, holding the pin in place like a vice. Maybe there's a sound reason for this design, but really I can't figure it out. There are documented cases of victims killed in fires being found clutching fully-charged extinguishers with the pin still in, presumably due to this design issue.

The way I've always been trained, and the way I trained others (my boss isn't at the office much, and must have missed my drills) is to place the extinguisher on the ground first, brace the cylinder with your left hand, and finally pull the pin with the right hand. Once the pin is extracted, you then lift the extinguisher with your right hand, extend the hose with your left (or brace the cylinder if there is no hose), and aim at the base of the fire. Finally, squeeze the trigger and then sweep back and forth until the fire is out. When a fire extinguisher has been discharged, protocol is to lay it on its side so others know it has been used (particularly helpful for rescuers).

Lately, I've been seeing good deals on Kidde "Full Home" 3-A:40-B:C fire extinguishers, which are suitable for homes, small offices, kitchens, small garages, and small work areas. I picked up several of them (shown above-right), and the really sleek sliver Kidde "Electronics" 1-A:10-B:C (shown left) fire extinguishers for pretty cheap. It's cool I can afford a bigger 1-A:10-B:C extinguisher for my car, for the price of most bare-minimum 1-A:5-B:C extinguishers at other stores. Chances are, they'll all go a whole decade unused before I replace them, but it's good to have them around if/when sλit happens.

If you're curious, bored, or genuinely want to know (dying in a fire probably isn't much fun) you can learn truckloads more at FireExtinguisher.com. They feature animations about how to inspect fire extinguishers, how to identify the different types of fires, how to effectively use extinguishers, what the rating codes mean and more. Finally, an all-Flash webpage that I actually like!

Cross posted on my personal LiveJournal - Fire Extinguishers. Yeah.