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Extinguishing Material

Fire Extinguisher

Before buying a fire extinguisher you must make a well-considered choice about the type of fire extinguisher that you need. You must make this purchase according to the potential fire risks. On the market, you can find different types of fire extinguishers, each with their own characteristics.

A combination of different fire extinguishers is usually recommended, certainly in an office space or a room with expensive electronic devices. The choice of fire extinguishers depends on the fire risk (determined in the legally required evacuation plan) and the limitation of damage caused by the use of an incorrect type of fire extinguisher.

To clarify these options, an overview is given of the different types of fire extinguishers, the size options (in Liters) and the strengths and weaknesses of each type of fire extinguisher. It is always important to check whether your fire extinguishers still comply with the strictest European and Belgian standards, such as CE inspection, EN standards, ISO standards and BENOR (Apragaz). At Fire-Proof, all our fire extinguishers meet the latest legal standards.

Fire Classes

To determine which types of fire a fire extinguisher can fight, you first have to know what type of fire you can encounter.

There are 5 fire classes in Europe: A, B, C, D and F:
- class A: fire of solids
- class B: fire of liquids
- class C: fire of gases
- class F: fire of grease and cooking oils
- class D: fire of metals
- class F: fire of fats
- class E: no longer exists because all current fire extinguishers can extinguish electrical appliances up to 1000V

Type of fire extinguishers

1. Powder fire extinguishers (ABC)

These fire extinguishers are suitable for fighting fires of class A (solids), class B (liquids) and class C (gases). Powder fire extinguishers are the most common ones, together with foam fire extinguishers. The powder fire extinguisher comes in various sizes and has a long spray duration. It is important to know that the powder has corrosive properties and can cause damage to all electronic devices in the room where the fire started. Cleaning the rooms after firefighting with a powder fire extinguisher is difficult, and the use of an industrial vacuum cleaner is usually necessary.

2. Fire extinguisher with foam (AB)

Foam fire extinguishers are most common, together with powder fire extinguishers. These fire extinguishers are suitable for fighting fires of class A (solids) and class B (liquids). Unlike the powder fire extinguisher, this foam fire extinguisher is not suitable for gas fires. Foam fire extinguishers make less damage than powder fire extinguishers, and the foam is also easy to clean up.

3. Aerosol fire extinguisher (ABF)

The aerosol fire extinguishers have the same properties as foam fire extinguishers, but they can also extinguish fat and cooking oil fires (class F). These fire extinguishers are protected against frost damage and can therefore be safely used outdoors. These fire extinguishers are also ideal for use in kitchens.

4. Fire extinguishers with CO² (B)

CO² fire extinguishers are suitable for fighting fires with liquids (class B). These CO² fire extinguishers can often be found in office spaces with a lot of valuable electronic material. The CO² fire extinguisher does no extra damage after fighting a fire.

Fire-proof Recommendation

Fires can cause a lot of damage, but so can the wrong choice of fire extinguisher. It is important to determine which fire extinguisher you will use to combat the source of the fire. The use of a fire extinguisher is usually a means to stop the spreading of a fire until the fire department arrives.

For these reasons, the training of your staff is required by law. During this training, an explanation is given about the different types of fire extinguishers that you can use.

In the section above you could read that not all fire extinguishers are suitable for all types of fires. In households, the use and purchase of multiple types of fire extinguishers is not something easy. The preferred choice is usually the powder fire extinguisher that can fight the largest number of fire types. In office spaces, on the other hand, a combination of fire extinguishers is recommended. Trained personnel who have completed legal training will know when it is appropriate to use a CO² fire extinguisher instead of a powder fire extinguisher.

Experience and knowledge

Mr Christiaan Vogt has been active in all aspects of fire safety for more than 15 years. With his company Fire-Proof, he is still one of the leading companies in that sector.

In addition to using the autoclave and its own Burnstop product, Fire-Proof also supplies the following products that ensure optimum fire resistance, fire repression, flame delaying, fire prevention and partitioning.

Generaal Lemanstraat 38, 2600 Berchem