Fire Fighting Equipment

Fire Fighting Equipment is equipment designed to extinguish fire or protect the user from the fire.

Firefighting equipment includes not only fire hoses and fire extinguishers but also fire –resistance protective clothing, fire – resistance gloves, respirators, and communication equipment.

A categorized list of equipment might look like this:

• Extinguishers- using water, dry chemical powder, foam, carbon dioxide, or other substances.
• Firefighters gear – fire-resistant outer suit, inner lining suit, inner and outer gloves, woolen socks, fire resistance shoes, helmet (with or without headlight) communication system, and breathing apparatus.
• Installed fire fighting system- main water supply network, hydrant, sprinkler (automatic or manual), emergency fuel and electric cut off system, portable generators, and portable pumps.
• Fire detection and alarm systems- smoke detectors, local, centralized automatic, semi- automatic, and manual fire alarm systems.
• Other accessories- water an sand bucket, shovel, hammer, fire, axe, cutters, fire blankets, emergency lifesaving apparatus and emergency lights.

Types of Fire Safety Equipment-

There are many types of fire safety equipment. Each device is designed specifically to deal with different classes of fire in a range of environments. If you’re struggling to figure out which safety devices you need in your building, take a look at the following range of equipment.

1. Fire extinguishers

Most buildings contain a variety of hand held firefighting equipment. This range of equipment is designed to help, contain small fires before they spread and become too large to control. Portable fire extinguishers are available with a number of different extinguishing agents to help you combat a flame. A portable extinguisher may contain the following substance:

• Water
• Foam
• Dry powder
• CO₂
• Wet chemicals

Fire blankets are designed to smooth Class F fires. That means flame that is fuelled by cooking oil and fats. Naturally, fire blankets are installed in kitchen environment where the chance of a class F fire is the highest.

Fire hoses reels are ideal for extinguishing class A fire. This is fires that are fueled by paper, rubber, wood, and other non-conductive materials. As fire hoses reels discharge water, they cannot be used to combat electrical fires. There are other types of fire safety equipment designed to deal with electrical fires- namely CO₂ fire extinguishers

Emergency and Exit Signs – Whilst fire fighting equipment is important during an emergency when a flame is out of control, you need to evaluate a building. Emergency and exit signs will help to provide a clear path to an exit during a fire. Having clear signage and lighting will help contain panic and guide your team members to an appropriate exit in time.