Extinguishing the Flames. Literally.

Yesterday I went to the Open House at the Lincoln Fire Department.  Attendance was a little low because of the rain but they did a fabulous job.  Not having any young children I would not normally go to this but being a candidate for public office I try to go to events, meet people and see what is going on.  I am so happy I went to this.  I learned something that could potentially save a life or prevent  substantial loss.  It is something embarrassingly simple.

We have a smoke extinguisher in our house and I have never given it a thought. It sits in the corner of the kitchen, I pass it several times a day and I barely know it is there.  It came with the house two years ago.

There was a company that specializes in fire extinguishers called A.C. & M. Fire Equipment at this open house.  They had a demo set up with several types of extinguishers and they provided the opportunity to actually operate one.  Well, kind of operate it, they were not 'loaded'.   It is really quite simple to do but I had never thought about it and in an emergency who has time to think about how to operate the equipment?  I now am much more confident that should I need to use this extinguisher, I will save a couple of seconds of time that I would otherwise have wasted trying to figure out how to start it up.  A couple seconds in a fire emergency could be vital.

Another thing they told me was how to know what kind of extinguisher can be used in what situation.  I don't know if you can see in this picture but we have an ABC extinguisher (top left in label) and this kind of extinguisher can be used for all types of fires.  One less thing I have to worry about.  Finally, they told me how to determine if our extinguisher is still functional or if it has to be replaced or serviced.  These are all things I really had never thought about before.

Good: Put a lid on a grease fire

After this demo they went outside and did a demo of how to actually put out a fire.  Where to stand, where to spray etc. They demonstrated the procedure for putting out several types of fires including a wood fire, a grease fire and a lawnmower fire.

Bad!!!: Putting water on a grease fire.  Don't do it!

Last week when I was knocking on doors in Waltham I met a young UMass Amherst college student who was home for the weekend.  She decided to come home after her roommates ruined the  kitchen in their apartment when they attempted to use water to put out a grease fire.  Fortunately no one was hurt but now they have to figure out how to pay for repairing the kitchen.  This is her first venture into off campus housing.  She decided to go home for a couple days where it is safe.

I want to thank the Lincoln Fire Department for hosting this event and for inviting A.C. & M. Fire Equipment to come and teach us about fire extinguishers.  I never would have expected to find learning about them to be so interesting!