Have you ever used a fire extinguisher?

[Geebray]

They're everywhere. But I have no real idea how to use one. They've got the instructions on, but obvs there wouldn't be time to read them in a crisis!

Have you ever used a fire extinguisher?

Only in fire warden training for work.

There are loads of online video tutorials though if you're worried.

Yes

No, but from what I've heard they're not much use. Better to just evacuate pronto and call the fire brigade, unless the fire is small enough to use a fire blanket. Everyone should have a fire blanket in their kitchen.

No but we had a little one under the kitchen sink and a house on our street had a fire.

Neighbour was screaming and DH ran out in his pyjamas with this tiny mini fire extinguisher to try and tackle this fire that had taken over a whole bedroom.

And he couldn't figure out how to work it either. Bless him 😂

And?

Yes you point at the base of the fire and squirt.

if you are in a fire though the advice is always to get yourself out.

But there are wet ones and dry ones

What was the fire in your instance?

Fairly regularly at Motorsport events.

Pull the pin and aim at the bottom of the fire and squeeze the handle.

If you're outdoors and it's windy make sure you are not downwind of the extinguisher!

It put the fire out. They're pretty fool proof. Pull the pin and squeeze the trigger, aiming the hose at the base of the fire.

Just make sure you use the correct type of extinguisher for the type of fire you have. Most common ones are powder which do everything other than cooking oil.

I did fire warden training where they lit small fires for us to practise putting out (outside and very controlled). It wasn't actually that difficult, though before that I didn't know there was a pin to pull out, so would have fallen at the first hurdle.

Yes, on fire training courses at work. The water ones take longer than you’d think to put a fire out.

Where did you hear that they're not much use?

If the fire isn't in a kitchen an extinguisher is great for putting out small fires, so they don't spread while you're waiting for the fire brigade.

No but as it happens I saw one being used today by my neighbour. His shed caught fire, it didn't work. I think it was too late for it, he started using it just as there was a bang and the fire got bigger so I called 999 and the professionals came to deal with it. His shed was right beside our fence and it was super windy today so the fire was blowing towards our house, our landing window cracked with the heat, our gutters are all melted and twisted. It's all a bit of a mess.

Yes, like some previous posters, I have used a fire extinguisher at fire safety courses at work.
At the courses I also got to use a fire blanket on a burning doll.

Only at a work training.

Fire department set small fires for us and we had to put them out as part of our fire safety training.

I had an incident where I needed a fire extinguisher once, only to discover that DH had already packed it for impending move. I had to get creative at dealing with that small fire, but thankfully only one small appliance was destroyed.

I have twice. Once to put out a grease fire in the kitchen and another time when one of my teens thought it would be cozy to have a fire in the fireplace but forgot to open the damper.

Just to add. I'm in the US and the only ones I have seen for household use don't have water in them as far as I know. It was some kind of squirty foam as far as I remember. It's been a while.

DH has used one. We were on a caravan site and the awning of a caravan further down caught light when the owner brought their bbq inside (they thought it had gone out). DH and another man grabbed the 2 on the bracket outside the loo block and managed to put it out. The fire brigade arrived just in time to dampen everything down.