Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Through the co-operation of eight Fire Brigades a survey has been made of the condition of extinguishers in use. The majority of the premises in which the extinguishers were installed were those controlled by Local Authorities. The proportion of soda-acid extinguishers, the most common type in use, found fit for use on inspection, in general varied between 80 and 90 per cent while the proportion serviceable of the other two main types of extin- guisher, the carbon dioxide operated water extinguisher and the chemical foam extinguisher were at least 90 per cent. The proportion of soda-acid extinguishers requiring recharging other than routine recharging varied between 10 and 20 per cent with the exception of one large Brigade in which the average proportion was 3 per cent. The proportion of soda-acid extinguishers repaired in this Brigade was 7 per cent compared with proportions of below 1 per cent in almost all the other Brigades taking part in the survey. The proportion of these extinguishers requiring replacement were generally small, about 2 to 3 per cent.