Having the appropriate fire safety equipment at home, in a workplace or in public areas is not only a legal requirement in some cases but can also help to save lives and property in case of a fire emergency. There are a wide range of these safety equipment that are available in the market. Some of the more common fire safety equipment are explained below;
Fire Extinguishers
Fire extinguishers are handy and ideal for small to medium fire emergencies. The extinguisher is a hand held cylinder that contains a fire fighting agent that gashes out when the extinguisher is turned on and therefore, when directed to a fire, it helps to extinguish it. There are different types of fire extinguishing agents used in the extinguishers. These agents include nitrogen, dry chemicals, carbon dioxide, foam extinguishers, Halon, inert gases such as Inergen and Argonite and water.
The agents are stored in the extinguisher cylinder under pressure to enable gashing out when cylinder tap is opened. Different fire types will require different agents. Fires from consumable liquids such as petrol, grease and oil are best extinguished using carbon dioxide agents and foam type agents. Fire from flammable gases can best be extinguished by dry chemicals and halon agent extinguishers. Therefore, depending on the risks that an area is exposed to, one needs to buy an appropriate agent extinguisher.
Fire Blankets
Fire blankets are ideal for domestic use especially in home kitchens. The fire extinguishing blanket is made with materials that are fire retardant. In the case of small fires in the kitchen or in other places at home, the blanket is placed on the small fires to reduce or extinguish the fire. Covering the fire with the blanket reduce oxygen and thereby killing the fire.
Fire and Safety Kits
There are various fire safety equipment kits that are available in the market. The kits are used for different functionality. They include the vehicle fire safety kit, home fire safety kit, fire safety equipment kit for shops, factory kit and kits for farm use. The kit usually has various equipment for fire fighting such as fire blankets and fire first aid medication. The equipment in the kit depends on the place the kit is to be used.
Fire Hose Reels
The fire hose reals is a horse pipe that releases water or fire retardant water-foam mixture at very high pressure. It may be connected to a water reservoir or to the regular water source. The pipe is usually long to cover all distances within a workplace or a building. It is reeled onto a roller for convenience is storage and for ease when unwinding in case of an emergency. Basic training is needed to use the pipe. After use, the all the water within the pipe needs to be drained off before storage as storing hose with water for long periods of time wears off the hose and compromises on its efficiency.
First Aid Kit
The first aid kit contains various medical equipment and medical consumables that will enable a first-aider provide basic medical and life saving operations in case of an emergency. The kit contains disinfectants, bandages, pain killers, wound dressers and other medical drugs and equipment. There are standard first aid kit that are sold by fire and emergency equipment dealers and these kits contain all the required medical items for an emergency. Proper first aid training is required to use the kit in asisting emergency victims.
Safety Signs
Having proper safety signs helps in directing people to safety in case of a fire emergency. The signs help people to identify the fire escape routes, where to get fire safety equipment and rules on how to use the fire equipment. Other safety signs include helpline numbers to call in case of an emergency, caution signs that warn people of risk areas and signs that provide general information on workplace or building safety. In as much as it is possible to have these signs done my a local designer, it is advisable to buy the standard signs as these are well understood by the public and therefore easy to recognize in case of an emergency.
Smoke Detectors
There are typically two types of fire detectors. For large commercial buildings, factories and centralised residential areas, a system of fire detectors is connected to a wider fire alarm system. For small offices and domestic use, smoke detectors (commonly referred to as fire alarms) will have the alarm, both audible and visual being part of the detector itself and thereby providing the alert from the detector location. The detectors use both optical and actual smoke detection mechanism to trigger alarm. The detectors range is size and sophistication and consequently have a wide price range. If you are setting up smoke detectors for a large workplace or for an extensive place, it may be advisable to set up the detectors as part of the large fire alarm and security system so as to have a synchronized system.