Thanks tom for the reminder to get my old CO2 extinguisher recharged.
last time it was used and echarged was maybe 5 years ago when a verizon
tech borrowed it to freeze some hornets in the outside telephone box
which we were using at the time. Lee
On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 12:23:39PM
-0800, Tom Fowle wrote:
> Hi all.
> this may be old hat to some of you experienced folks, but I found the
> following interesting.
>
> I'd always wanted to really try using an extinguisher on a "real" fire. I
> wanted to have some idea if I might stand a chance of doing usefull fire
> fighting if i drop my soldering iron on a pile of paper or some such.
>
> However I didn't want to set up a test without professional help just in
> case things should get out of hand.
>
> I found that a niece's new boy friend is a professional fire fighter. When
> I met Joe last year, almost the first thing I asked him after a little
> introductory chatter was whether he might set up a test fire somewhere and
> suggest an extinguisher for me to try.
>
> This was a year ago and I' hadn't seen Joe since.
>
> This thanksgiving, we went to my brother's 5 acre place in the country and
> Joe was there. I hadn't mentioned my request over the year and figured if
> he was interested, he'd bring it up. I wasn't going to ask again.
>
> Almost the first thing i heard was " Tom I've got an extinguisher for you."
>
> So, Friday afternoon, we went out to the middle of a gravel coverred area
> and Joe got hold of an old cardboard box and a heap of waiste paper. He
> really wanted to add a mix of gasoline and diesel, but everyone else thought
> that was going a bit far.
>
> He had an out of date "dry chemical" extinguisher, the type with a pair of
> handles you squeeze together and a 1 foot hose you aim at the fire.
>
> After the fire was going well enough I could readilly feel it from a few
> feet away, I held the extinguisher in my left hand, and followed his
> instructions.
>
> they suggest a memory trick using "PASS"
> Pull, Aim, Squeeze Sweep.
>
> Pull, means pull the safety pin, a rod with a circular ring at one end that
> goes through the top handle of the extinguisher and keeps it from being
> squeezed down when not in use.
>
> Aim, of course means take the end of the little hose and aim it at the base
> of the fire.
>
> Squeeze, press the two handles together.
>
> Sweep, means sweep the stream of chemical back and forth across the fire.
>
> My experience suggests that moving in a flattened oval so the stream moves
> "up and down" a bit as well as across where you think the fire is, may be a
> good bet if you can't see the flames at all.
>
> Not surprisingly, I had little trouble knocking this relatively minor fire
> down. Joe had me stop firing several times while he stirred up the fire
> again to give me several tries.
>
> I did have the tendency to knock over the box with the stream of chemical,
> but this would probably not happen in a more real world situation. One might
> think about whether you might blow burning material away and spread a fire
> with a strong stream of stuff. This would further encourage me to believe
> in the vertical oval movement strategy.
>
> In a real fire situation, you don't stop spraying your extinguisher's
> contents till the thing is empty. Even if you're pretty sure the fire is
> out, the policy is to empty the device just to be sure.
>
> Of course any test like this can't be totally real,, it was controlled and I
> knew what was going to be burned and where. And, of course I wasn't in a
> panic. However I believe I at least found i may be able to knock down a
> fire to the extent that I should consider trying an extinguisher if one is
> available.
>
> Of course there a lot of other strategies to fire fighting depending on
> what's burning, E.G. if it's a grease fire in a pan, just putting a lid on
> the pan may be enough to do the job.
>
> |Dryy chemical extinguishers are good for most fires, the disadvantage of
> these types is that they leave a powdery mess over everything.
>
> [CO2 carbondioxide extinguishers are good for most fires but of course
> do realease a quantity of co2 into the atmosphere. I don't know of other
> disadvantages of this type.
>
> There are pressurized water units but they should never be used on
> electrical, grease or flamable liquid fires, so probably aren't a good bet.
>
> Hailon is expensive, as are it's new substitutes, and are good for almost
> all fires, but one must be carefull to get out of the way of the cloud of
> gas since it makes breathing impossible.
>
> I'd suggest, if you work with anything that might go wrong and cause a fire,
> that you may want to meet a friendly fireman and set up a similar test for
> your selves just so you'll have a feel for how it all goes.
>
> Everyone with a home containing a kitchen should have, and maintain, an
> appropriate extinguisher where you can get at it. Contact your local fire
> fighters to find out what local code says is appropriate for you.
>
> Of course if you have a fire, whether you try fighting it your self or not,
> call the local fire department. Even if you think it's out, you want
> professional help to be sure there is no way it could spread and something
> you didn't catch is still going.
>
> Hope this encourages you to try something for your selves and learn more
> about what you can do.
>
> Besides, since I had a pro on hand, it was fun and helped build a good
> connection with a possible future family member.
>
> tom Fowle
--
Shouted Frosty the Snowman "Hooray!
I'm agog with excitement today!
And the reason of course,
A reliable source,
Said the snow blower's heading this way!"
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