Luray Volunteer Fire Department

1 Firehouse Lane Luray, VA 22835 Phone: (540) 743-5585 Fax: 540-843-0991 About Us History Members In Memory Fallen In The Line Of Duty Gallery Fire Safety Children Auxiliary Events Calendar Statistics News Links Home

* Disclaimer - We do not recommend one fire extinguisher over another. Each one has its use, and it depends on the individuals needs. How To Use an Extinguisher Fire Extinguisher Safety
Class A Extinguishers will put out fires in ordinary combustibles, such as cloth, wood, paper, rubber, and many plastics. The numerical rating for this class of fire extinguisher refers to the amount of water the fire extinguisher holds and the amount of fire it will extinguish.
Class B Extinguishers should be used on fires involving flammable liquids, such as gasoline, alcohol, diesel oil, oil-based paints, lacquers, etc., and flammable gases, etc. The numerical rating for this class of fire extinguisher states the approximate number of square feet of a flammable liquid fire that a non-expert person can expect to extinguish.
Class C Extinguishers are suitable for use on electrically energized fires. This class of fire extinguishers does not have a numerical rating. The presence of the letter “C” indicates that the extinguishing agent is non-conductive.
Class D Extinguishers are designed for use on flammable metals and are often specific for the type of metal in question. Class D fires are fires that involve combustible metals such as magnesium, titanium and sodium.
Class K Extinguishers are kitchen fires, and is for use on Class K fires are fires that involve vegetable oils, animal oils, or fats in cooking appliances. This is for commercial kitchens, including those found in restaurants, cafeterias, and caterers.
Multi-Class Ratings Many extinguishers available today can be used on different types of fires and will be labeled with more than one designator, e.g. A-B, B-C, or A-B-C. Make sure that if you have a multi-purpose extinguisher it is properly labeled. This is the old style of labeling indicating suitability for use on Class A, B, and C fires.
Class AB This is the new style of labeling that shows this extinguisher may be used on Ordinary Combustibles, Flammable Liquids, or Electrical Equipment fires. This is the new labeling style with a diagonal red line drawn through the picture to indicate what type of fire this extinguisher is NOT suitable for. In this example, the fire extinguisher could be used on Ordinary Combustibles and Flammable Liquids fires, but not for Electrical Equipment fires.
Class BC CO2 extinguishers are designed for Class B and C (flammable liquid and electrical) fires only. This type of extinguisher is filled with Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a non-flammable gas under extreme pressure. These extinguishers put out fires by displacing oxygen, or taking away the oxygen element of the fire triangle. Because of its high pressure, when you use this extinguisher pieces of dry ice shoot from the horn, which also has a cooling effect on the fire.
Specialty Extinguishers   MAGNETIC FIELD WARNING If you work around extremely high field magnets such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers (NMR's), you should only have non-magnetic fire extinguishers on hand. The magnetic field of an MRI or NMR machine is strong enough to make a steel cylinder fly across the room with lethal force.
Halon Fire Extinguishers Halon is useful for all Class A, B. & C fires and is recommended because Halon leaves no residue. The problem with most other extinguishers is they leave a thick, sticky coating on everything you shoot. (Except Co2 extinguishers.) Halon is the ultimate for use where there is valuable electronic equipment (such as computers) in use. In fact, most safe-rooms, and clean-rooms will have Halon in the automatic equipment which fogs the entire room when smoke or flames are detected. Halon is a liquefied, compressed gas that stops the spread of fire by chemically disrupting combustion. Halon 1211 (a liquid streaming agent) and Halon 1301 (a gaseous flooding agent) leave no residue and are remarkably safe for human exposure. Halon is most effective for flammable liquids and electrical fires (rated B:C) and is electrically non-conductive. Simply put, Halon being a heavy gas, sucks all the oxygen from the immediate area being fogged. Remove the oxygen and the fire is gone. Period. Unfortunately, it has been shown to be harmful to the environment and OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency recently put a halt on all Halon production. However, it is still utilized for fire extinguishing equipment based on existing stores and recycled stores of the gas.