Does the survey suggest all parties extinguishing the said fires were trained in the use of the extinguishers? If not we don’t have a very reliable survey to prove any point do we?

Hi Not sure if you have been able to view the FIA survey report but here’s the links any way. You can read a summary of the report at: http://tiny.cc/1mua6 And the full raw data report is available at: http://tiny.cc/r61ng The raw data may be of use as an insight into causes of fire and the number and types of extinguisher used. It was interesting to note that the smaller capacity extinguishers were more effective than large ones (91% v 86%) with the supposed champion for electrical equipment 2kg CO2 failing on several occasions. The 3 litre water additive (Chubb Hydrospray extinguisher being the most common example in use) had 100% success even on fires it is not intended for (electrical) albeit, the statistical sample was very small. Cheers

Did you know that 78.8% of survey results are made up :) (especially when the survey is carried out by an interested party such as extinguisher sales folk). There is no doubt that adequate training and numbers of extinguishers do make a real difference, but you'll excuse me if I don't ever use the 88% figure to justify it

Sorry DP i took your message to mean you where against fire extinguishers. I no doubt that the survey may be biased towards the use of fire extinguishers but those against the use of fire extinguishers or training to produce figures to purswayed me that they are right. another set of figures i had was that 66,000 fire where extinguished by FE in premises compared to the fire services who attend 88,000 calls in premises. Of course these are only the fires that are reported to the authority's. at my old company i know we had a few small fires that we extinguished and never got reported. Phil

I think the fact that most people would only attempt to tackle a small fire (waste paper bin size) then using a fire extinguisher can cope with far bigger fires so using the extinguisher on a waste paper bin fire is like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut. So even if the technique is bad eventually they should put out the fire. Hopefully with foam fire extinguishers becoming more popular than water or at least more common then they are suitable for a greater range of class fires and far less likely to cause electric shock even if used on electrical fires (but that's another subject) also hopefully the selection of the correct fire extinguisher next to the hazard means it's would be less likely for someone would use the wrong extinguisher on the wrong fire. Probably the most commonest fire extinguishers are the foam and co2 and generally people seem to know what to use each fire extinguisher on. or potentially using the wrong extinguisher on the wrong fire shouldn't have to detrimental effect or they would be aware quickly that things are going pear shaped and get out. I think people generally get lost when you start tacking about different class's of fire and the range of extinguishers there are out there. so the trick is is to get them to look at what fire extinguishers they have in their work place and they soon realise what those fire extinguishers can be used on. Fire safety isn't just about using fire extinguishers it should be far more on prevention and ensuring people can escape from premises quickly and know what to do before a fire happens rather than trying to work it out when an incident occurs. Phil