Portable Fire Extinguisher Assists in Controlling Fire

Portable Fire Extinguishers are the tools that help us to put off the fire in an environment. The incidents of fire are rising in recent times, from household fire incidents to industrial fire incidents. These incidents portrayed the requirement for portable fire extinguishers in each sector.

According to the statement of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), 3,390 civilians died and a loss of property of about USD 13.6 billion has been recorded due to the fire incidents in 2016. The fire extinguishers involve the extinguishing agent that makes them pressure vessels to control the fire.

Whereas portable fire extinguishers have seen a rising graph and increasing adoption as it is light in weight, easy to handle, and a person can carry the extinguisher while moving. The technology involved in the extinguishers is also getting advance over the years.

Kinds of Portable Fire extinguisher

There are many different kinds of portable fire extinguishers that are available in the market. Here, we are mentioning a few of the kinds of a portable fire extinguisher with some specific details about them:

Carbon Dioxide

These carbon dioxide extinguishers are helping in controlling the fire by blocking the oxygen element in the fire triangle. They also eliminate the heating element because of its low-temperature cold discharge on the fire.

These carbon dioxide fire extinguishers strictly utilize on Class B and C fires. The reason behind this is that they are ineffective on the fires that fall under Class A.

Dry Chemical

These kinds of extinguishers control the fire by blocks the chemical reaction of the fire. These extinguishers are widely utilized in the market. It serves as a multipurpose dry chemical extinguisher that helps in extinguishing class A, B, and C fires.

A dry chemical extinguisher chokes the way between the oxygen element and the fueling element on Class A fires. Generally, dry chemical extinguishers are effective on Class B and C of fires only. It is of utmost importance to use the right extinguisher on the right class of fire to suppress the fire spread.

Foam and water

The foam and water fire extinguishers help in controlling the fire by eradicating the heating element of the fire. Foam agents also help in separating the oxygen component from the other components of fire.

These water extinguishers are only effective on Class A fire and it should not use on Class B and C fires. Because they discharge stream that possibly could spread the flammable liquid. It can also form a shock element on Class C of fire.

Along with the above-mentioned types, there are some more types of extinguishers available in the market for various specific purposes. The extinguishers include clean agent extinguishers, Wet chemical extinguishers, water mist extinguishers, dry powder extinguishers, and others.

Way to use a portable fire extinguisher

There are many incidents where people try to control fire but they could not because they don’t know the technique to use the fire extinguishers. But it is advisable that a person who knows the technique should use an extinguisher. As they have the knowledge about the type of fire which is very important for making the right decision and using the extinguisher.

Here, we have noted down the simple steps to use an extinguisher but one thing which needs to keep in mind is to raise the fire alarm and try to rescue people around it. However, the four-step PASS technique for using an extinguisher is as follows:

• Tear the tamper seal by pulling the pin.
• Aim the nozzle of the extinguisher at the base of the fire and go with aiming low. It is highly important that a person should not touch the horn on a CO2 extinguisher. As it will get highly cold and can damage the skin.
• After this, squeeze the handle to allow the agents of the extinguisher to spread.
• Then, sweep the fuel source of the fire that is at the base of the fire until the fire gets controlled.

Raw materials used in the making of fire extinguisher

Some raw materials of a fire extinguisher depending on the Class of fire. Fires are also classified into Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. Each class of fire has a specified fire extinguisher that helps in controlling that type of fire only.

The most effective component used on the fire caused by Class A type of fire is Water. While components such as CO2, glycerol, and foams are used in other types of extinguishers which is not effective against Class A of fire.

However, these components differ from the type of fire that arose. Class C of fire requires sodium bicarbonate which is very free-flowing.

To sum up

Portable fire extinguishers have the properties like it is easy to handle while moving, it is very compact and compatible for its usage on fire. These extinguishers are effective in their certain Class of fire because not every extinguisher is effective on every type of fire.

The stringent government rules and regulations for installing fire extinguishers in every public and private place are boosting the market growth. But, the high cost of raw materials involved in its making is restricting the growth of the market.