Fire Extinguishers

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Talking to a Fire Station Officer today re fire extinguishers.He made a couple of points :

1.The active ingredient in the dry powder type is sodium bicarbonate. (remember those tips from the past for putting out a fire?)

2.An out of date Carbon dioxide extinguisher will be useless.

3.Most people cannot handle a fire blanket easily in an emergency.His recommendation for smothering the flames is to wet a tea towel /bath towel or cotton sheet & wrap or cover tightly the saucepan or person on fire so as to exclude air.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), July 29, 1999

Answers

Thanks for the info. By the way, if you are ever in a fire situation and decide to put a kerchief or towel over your face to filter the smoke DO NOT WET IT - IT WILL BURN YOU FROM STEAM IF IT GETS HOT!!! Plain old dry will work pretty well.

-- Kristi (securx@succeed.net), July 29, 1999.

The importance of having readily available extinguishers probably cannot be overemphasized. My goal is to have one in every closet and/or every room in the house and garage.

About 15 years ago we had a fire in our barn. It is truly a frightening experience, and every second is important. *If* I had had the pump and hose I *now* have, I could have put out the fire in a few minutes. As it was, by the time the fire company arrived, most of the roof was involved.

Since we may be using candles or kero lamps, additional precautions will be necessary. The baking soda sounds like a good thing to stock up on. I just downloaded a little article titled: "60 uses for baking soda." Gotta get more.

url for the baking soda: http:forums.cosmoaccess.net/forum/survival/prep/library2/60soda.htm

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 02, 1999.


gene,

I agree. I have a fire extinguisher in each room, and two in the kitchen. Once the cold weather sets in I also plan on putting a layer of ice on the roof and around the whole house. It should make it harder for an external fire to grab hold.

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), August 02, 1999.


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