Fire Extinguishers Tested By Institute

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31857, 9 December 1968, Page 16

Fire Extinguishers Tested By Institute

Small fire extinguishers sold for use in the home or in vehicles are useful for “first aid” only and should not be allowed to give a false sense of security, says the Consumers’ Institute.

In the December issue of its magazine the institute says recent tests on portable carbon-dioxide and dry-pow-der extinguishers showed they had limitations. “The most obvious limitation, says the institute is their short life span of between eight and 10 seconds. Unless the user is on target immediately the extinguisher may be emptied before the fire is extinguished.

The force with which the extinguisher ejects the car-bon-dioxide or dry powder also causes problems. “If they are used on a pan of burning fat in a kitchen, flaming fat may be sent in all directions before the main body of the fire is smothered. The same thing happens with a burning waste-paper bin—burning paper flies everywhere.”

The institute’s user test, in which office girls were given the task of putting out fires, showed how important it was for the extinguishers to be easy to use. One brand had to be held upside down to be fully effective, but the office girls instinctively held them the “right” way up in spite of the printed instructions. “Probably this is what would happen to most of us.

In the excitement of having to deal with a real fire, would we all be sufficiently ‘cool, calm and collected’ to read the instructionus while the fire spread?”

The institute’s testers also had difficulty directing the extinguishers that had to be held upside down. “To direct the jet on to the flames the body must be brought close to the fire and, not unnaturally, the girls tended to flinch from this with the result that the jet did not reach the target.

“We can imagine that with this type of extinguisher it would be difficult to get sufficient downward angle in confined spaces, such as under the bonnet of a car, if the engine catches fire.” Another type of extinguisher using dry-powder dispensed from a special plastic container was judged difficult to operate and ineffective. The testers considered it would be more effective to unscrew the filler cap of this container and dump the contents bodily on the fire. The institute also warned that carbon-tetrachloride fire extinguishers can be hazardous if used in a confined space became the fumes are toxic. This type is not recommended.