Fire extinguisher Facts for Kids

A fire extinguisher is a special tool used to help put out small fires. It can help stop a fire from growing bigger and causing more damage. Some fire extinguishers are small enough to carry and use by hand. Others are much larger and are moved on wheels.

Not all fire extinguishers work on every type of fire. Different kinds of fires need different substances to put them out. To make it easy to know which extinguisher to use, they have color codes and symbols. These tell you what kind of fire the extinguisher is best for.

Fire Class	Symbol	What it's for
A	Green Triangle	Fires involving ordinary things like wood, paper, cloth, and garbage.
B	Red Square	Fires involving liquids that can easily burn, like gasoline, oil, or paint, and flammable gases.
C	Blue Circle	Fires involving electrical equipment that is still plugged in or has power.
D	Yellow Pentagram (Star)	Fires involving special metals that can burn, like magnesium or titanium.
K	Black Hexagon	Fires involving cooking oils and fats, often found in kitchens.

Fire extinguishers also come in different sizes. Bigger extinguishers can spray for a longer time. Hand-held ones usually weigh between 0.5 and 14 kilograms (about 1 to 30 pounds). A small 2-kilogram extinguisher might spray for only two to four seconds. A larger 12-kilogram model can spray for about eighteen seconds.

Even bigger fire extinguishers are mounted on carts or vehicles. These are used for very large fires, like those at airports.

To make sure fire extinguishers work when needed, they must be checked regularly. There are often laws about how often fire extinguishers in public buildings need to be inspected. This helps keep everyone safe.

Transparent fire extinguishers are used for training
An old advertisement from 1904 showing how to use a fire extinguisher

Images for kids

Wheeled fire extinguisher and a sign inside a parking lot
A British fire extinguisher with ID sign, call point and fire action sign
Automatic engine compartment fire extinguisher installed on a hybrid city bus.
A dedicated trolley loaded with extinguishers ready to move where needed for rapid use
An empty fire extinguisher which was not replaced for years.
A fire extinguisher stored inside a cabinet mounted to a wall
Heavy-duty CO2-powered fire extinguisher on standby at a temporary helicopter landing site
Fire extinguishers in a museum storeroom, cut to display their inner workings.
A glass grenade-style extinguisher, to be thrown into a fire.
A US copper building type soda-acid extinguisher.
A US building-type chemical foam extinguisher with contents.
Pyrene apparatus type chemical foam, 1960s
A Pyrene, brass, carbon tetrachloride extinguisher.
Pyrene 1 qt. pump-type chlorobromomethane (CB or CBM), 1960s, UK
National Methyl Bromide extinguishers, UK, 1930s–1940s.
Bell Telephone CO₂ extinguisher made by Walter Kidde, 1928.
Du Gas cartridge-operated dry chemical extinguisher, 1945.
Ansul Met-L-X cartridge-operated dry powder fire extinguisher for class D fires, 1950s.
A small, disposable sodium bicarbonate dry chemical unit intended for home kitchen use.
A typical dry chemical extinguisher containing 5 lb (2.3 kg). of monoammonium phosphate dry chemical.
A 10 lb (4.5 kg) stored pressure purple-K fire extinguisher
An 18 lb (8.2 kg) US Navy cartridge-operated purple-K dry chemical (potassium bicarbonate) extinguisher.
Two Super-K (potassium chloride) extinguishers.
Met-L-Kyl cartridge-operated fire extinguisher for pyrophoric liquid fires.
1970s Light Water AFFF foam fire extinguisher
Amerex Solid-Charge AFFF Fire Extinguisher, 1980s (obsolete)
A 2.5 US gal (9.5 L) USCG-approved 2+1⁄2-gallon AFFF foam fire extinguisher
General 2.5 gal. pump-type water fire extinguisher, 1960s, US
Stored pressure water extinguisher
Stored pressure loaded stream fire extinguisher
2.5 gallon water mist fire extinguisher for medical and MRI facilities
6-liter wet chemical fire extinguisher for use in commercial kitchens
Indian 5-gal. backpack pump tank for wildland firefighting, US
Amerex 10lb. CO₂ Fire Extinguisher, Circa 1989, US
Halon 1211 Fire Extinguisher
Halon 1301 Fire Extinguisher
5lb. Halotron-1 fire extinguisher
FE-36 Cleanguard fire extinguisher
Ansul Met-L-X 30lb. cartridge-operated sodium chloride dry powder
Amerex 30lb. Stored Pressure Sodium Chloride Class D Dry Powder, 1990s, US
Ansul Lith-X Cartridge-Operated Fire Extinguisher, graphite-base for lithium fires and other alkali metals
Ansul 30lb. Na-X cartridge-operated sodium carbonate fire extinguisher for sodium fires using non-corrosive agent.
A TMB extinguisher for magnesium fires
Buffalo fire extinguishers for magnesium fires using M-X liquid
Ternary Eutectic Chloride fire extinguisher for metal fires, UK.

Fire extinguisher facts for kids

Images for kids

See also