A fire is one of the scariest things to encounter in your home or business. They can come on suddenly and spread quickly, barely giving you time to gather your thoughts, be present in the moment, and find a way to put them out. Unfortunately, most react in panic and attempt to put out a fire in the simplest of ways without considering what type of fire it is and how it can be put out. For instance, small fires have grown more significant because a homeowner poured water on a grease fire. The way to ensure that fires are extinguished safely and efficiently with minimal damage is to invest in fire extinguishers.
Disposable fire extinguishers can be found at most big box retailers and are perfect for fires in your home, apartment, garage, or shop. If you are in the commercial space, you should contact a fire alarm maintenance company specializing in commercial fire safety and service residential dwellings, such as rental property. The company can educate you and your employees on ways of extinguishing fire(s) and even allow you to learn to use a practice fire extinguisher. A fire extinguisher for commercial building safety is not only practical but required by law. Therefore, it would be wise to educate yourself and your staff about the various types of extinguishers and fires and invest in the best types for your office or warehouse. For instance, some extinguishers are used for paper and wood fires, while others are used for electrical fires. Then, some work for both.
Lastly, a fire alarm maintenance company will also service any non-disposable extinguishers you have on-premises once a year and ensure they are charged and ready to use when a fire occurs.
Unfortunately, fires are more frequent occurrences than many of us might think. This is true for the average residential home, where house fires abound. But it’s even more true for larger buildings, like restaurants and hotels. Cooking usually occurs on some level in both of these establishments. Hotels also have a large amount of electrical wiring, which means that electrical fires are high risks. We’ll discuss below why these fires happen. But even more important than understanding why these fires happen is having something on hand that can efficiently extinguish these fires. Fire extinguisher services are often left to the fire department. However, there are things than individuals can do to extinguish fires before they grow too large to control. This can not only save money — in property damage and much more — but lives as well. As you’ll discover below, there are many advantages to having a service for fire extinguishers on hand. This means that not only can you keep fire extinguishers on hand, but have them working properly — this can include fire extinguisher recharges and inspections, all important steps to ensure the quality of your extinguisher. After all — what’s the point in having a fire extinguisher if it’s not going to work?
Fires: Why They Happen And Where
As previously mentioned, fire extinguishers are particularly useful in hotels and restaurants. However, some choose to keep them in their residential homes, just to be safe. This certainly isn’t a bad idea. As it is, commercial kitchen fires remain some of the most dangerous and prevalent in the country. An estimated 8,000 commercial kitchen fires are reported annually. These fires, when occurring in restaurants and dining establishments result in an annual average $246 million in property damage. It’s believed that 57% of restaurant fires involved cooking equipment. If you are running a kitchen, it’s important to remove ashes from wood and charcoal burning ovens at least once a day. They should be stored outside in metal containers at least 10 feet from buildings and combustible materials. The leading types of equipment involved in the ignition of non-confined restaurant building fires are deep fryers at 9%, ranges at 7%, and miscellaneous cooking equipment at 5%. These fires occur in cooking areas and kitchens 41% of the time. Fire extinguishers can certainly aid in stopping such fires before they get out of hand. But again, it’s important to remember that without fire extinguisher recharges among other services, you might as well not have a fire extinguisher at all.
Fire Extinguishers: Inspections And Services
Fire extinguisher inspections are of the utmost important. Have your extinguisher inspected on a regular basis — ideally, every extinguishing system should be inspected and serviced every six months, though only by a qualified contractor. Fire extinguisher recharges are not necessarily difficult. But the need for a fire extinguisher recharge can easily be missed if those inspections don’t happen when they need to. The neglect of inspections doesn’t just mean that you could miss the need for a recharge. Certain systems might deteriorate without being serviced. This renders them not only useless, but as complete wastes of money.
Using Fire Extinguishers: The Difference They Can Make
Careful measures need to be taken to use fire extinguishers properly. After all, they can be somewhat hazardous if not well-stored. If they’re too far away, they’ll also be somewhat useless. As it is, they should not be located more than 30 feet away from cooking areas. When well-used, they can have a serious effect on the dangers of fires. During a study of over 2,000 fire incidents, it was revealed that portable fire extinguishers were successful in extinguishing over 80% of all house fires. The sooner you can pick up your fire extinguisher, in other words, the less you have to worry about serious fires.
The options are clear — and the only safe one is having a well-inspected, charged fire extinguisher at the ready in case of any fire.
