Fire Extinguisher Types
Extinguishers and Common Home Fire Hazards

Identifying home fire hazards is one of the first home fire safety steps you need to take in order to prevent a fire from ravaging your home. This is because fire extinguishers are designed to handle different types of fires. So in order to ensure your fire extinguisher does its job, be especially careful in identifying any of these common home fire hazards threatening your home:

Loose papers, wooden infrastructure, non-fire resistant textiles

These common fire hazards are the regular solid combustibles that can grow in size and intensity once exposed to an open fire and is handled by Type-A extinguishers.

Most types of extinguishers can handle fires that stem from these sources, and even a normal fire hose can get the job done quite well. But it is important to note that fires that are fed with these solid combustibles grow quickly and rapidly. A few seconds of delay could be enough for a regular extinguisher to have no effect, so make sure you act quickly if you do not want a raging inferno in your hands.

Exposed oils and gasoline, leaking gas pipes, pressurized canisters

Fires that come from liquid and gaseous sources ignite quickly and heat up fast. They can be dealt with using Type-B extinguishers.

Certain fire extinguisher types that use water to put out fires are designed to handle flames that stem from regular solid combustibles. But these extinguishers will not be able to handle oil and gasoline fires. Type-B extinguishers use special chemicals to smother the flame at its source rather than cooling the flames, so they quickly and efficiently kill these types of fires.

Overloaded electrical outlets, lit candles and incandescent bulbs, shorted electronic devices, faulty heating systems

Fires with the threat of electricity are particularly dangerous to put out, warranting the need to use Type-C extinguishers to get the job done quickly and safely.

There is yet another problem with water-based and some chemical-based extinguishers. They conduct electricity, and this electricity can reach the fire extinguisher operator and kill him or her. Type-C extinguishers use a unique blend of chemicals to smother the flame without the aid of moisture or any conductive chemicals. This then puts out the fire without the risk of conducting the electricity anywhere.

A note on regular extinguishers

Fire extinguisher signs must indicate what type of fires a particular extinguisher can handle. Otherwise the fire extinguisher may not get the job done, or it may even pose a greater threat to the operator and the people around him or her.

Now that you know what the fire hazards in your home are, the next step would be to select a reliable extinguisher to handle a fire should it ever break out. Trusted extinguisher brands, like a Kidde fire extinguisher, can mean the difference between a fire extinguisher doing its job and suddenly failing you when you need it the most.

So don’t depend on cheap extinguishers, as you may end up paying for your frugality with your life!