In order to understand how fire extinguishers work, you first need to know a little bit about fire. Four things that must be present at the same time in order to produce a fire : * Enough oxygen to sustain combustion.
* Enough heat to raise the material to its ignition temperature.
* Some sort of fuel or combustible material.
* The chemical, exothermic reaction that is fire.
Take a look at the following diagram called the “ Fire Triangle”.
Oxygen, heat, and fuel are frequently referred to as the “ fire triangle.” Add in the fourth element, the chemical reaction, and you actually have a fire “ tetrahedron.” The important thing to remember is: take any of these four things away, and you will not have a fire or the fire will be extinguished. Essentially, fire extinguishers put out fire by taking away one or more elements of the fire triangle/tetrahedron. Fire safety, at its most basic, is based upon the principle of keeping fuel sources and ignition sources separate.
FIRE SAFETY PLANS.
Fire Safety Plans must be building and occupancy specific. A fire safety plan for a restaurant is obviously different than a fire safety plan for a commercial building. But what do you do if the commercial building contains a restaurant, training school, library and theatre. Your fire safety plan MUST take into consideration the specific requirements for each one of these occupancies. While it may seem possible to just work with a ‘ generic’ plan the potential problems that will occur during the review process can be overbearing. Each fire safety plan is submitted to the local municipal fire prevention office for review and approval. Fire Safety Plans are vetted against a check list to ensure it meets the requirements of the ‘ fire code’ and any municipal specific requirements.
