If a fire breaks out in your home, your best safeguard you can have is having a fire extinguisher close by. Fire extinguishers are very effective at putting out fires. For the safety of your home, be sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand.
Though it would be better to never have to use them at all, there simply is no way of knowing when a fire will happen. Fire extinguishers should be placed around your home where they can be reached quickly. You don’t want to fight your way up stairs to use a fire extinguisher for a fire that is in your garage.
It is recommended to have at least one fire extinguisher on each floor. While you don’t necessarily need to have a fire extinguisher in every room, it’s important to have one close by. The most important areas to focus on are the kitchen, workshop, basement, garage and near any sleeping areas in your home.
Choosing the right fire extinguisher for your home can take a little thought. There are different extinguishers that are meant to treat specific fires. For example, certain extinguishers are meant to put out fires caused by gases and liquids, and it wouldn’t be able to put out a fire caused by electricity.
Many fire extinguishers are designed to work against a variety of fire types. It might be tempting to buy a large extinguisher that can be used against all the different fire types, but be smart in your choices. If you have children at home, even a well rated fire extinguisher will be useless if it is too big for the child to use properly.
It’s also important to know that many fire extinguishers contain highly corrosive chemicals, which can cause a lot of damage to electronic equipment. Also, any extinguishers with the dry chemical halon are being phased out presently, because of concerns that is is harming the ozone layer. The best fire extinguisher is one that uses non-corrosive chemicals.
Fire extinguishers need to be mounted correctly so they can be grabbed quickly. While they should be handy in case of a fire, do not place them too close to potential fire locations. Do not place them close to stoves or trashcans or a place where a fire may actually prevent you from getting to the extinguisher.
Fire extinguishers will work best when a fire is just starting. The longer you wait to put out the fire, the less chance one fire extinguisher will be able to put the fire out. Be prepared by reading the instructions ahead of time, so you won’t have to worry about that if a fire does break out.
