Types of fire extinguisher
Make sure that your fire extinguisher conforms to the British Standard. Look for the kitemark or the special BAFE (British Approvals for Fire Equipment) mark.
Fire extinguishers are colour coded according to their contents. These are the main types of extinguisher:
Red, containing water. For use on solids such as wood or paper. You must never use water on electrical fires or burning liquids such as fat or oil.
Blue, containing dry powder. Safe on electrical fires. Like red water extinguishers, they work on burning solids, but multi-purpose powder extinguishers also work on liquids such as grease, fats, oil, paint and petrol. Standard dry powders work only on burning liquids. DO NOT use standard dry powder extinguishers on chip or fat pan fires, though; use a fire blanket instead.
Cream, containing foam. For domestic use, make sure you have an AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) multi-purpose extinguisher. These do a similar job on liquid fires to blue multi-purpose dry powder extinguishers.
Black, containing carbon dioxide. For use on liquids such as grease, fats, oil paint, petrol and so on. DO NOT use on chip or fat pan fires; use a fire blanket instead.
Fire blanket. These can be used on burning solids and liquids. They are particularly good for smothering small fires in clothing and for chip and fat pan fires provided the blanket completely covers the fire. Check that your fire blanket conforms to BS 7944:1999 or BS EN 1869:1997. These are suitable for domestic use.
In the home, the best types to have are probably blue multi-purpose dry powder or cream Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) extinguishers. They have the fewest dangers and are effective on many types of fire. It's also very wise (and foolish not...) to have a fire blanket in the kitchen.
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