Fire Extinguisher, Do You Have One?

[Crossy]

Whilst the presence of hand held fire extinguishers is unlikely to have been of significant help in the Mae Phim conflagration a hand held extinguisher in your home can prevent a small fire from turning in to a big one.

How many of us have extinguishers, fire blankets, other means of protection?

We have two extinguishers, one in the kitchen along with a fire blanket and one upstairs for rapid access.

I also bought a smaller unit for Wifey to practice with on some burning wood (as you can see, I have little confidence that the local brigade will arrive before we have a smoking ruin).

Feel free to expand upon your fire prevention / mitigation arrangements, do you have an extinguisher in your car?

[nattydread]

teerac cooks on the balcony of our condo where i have put two water bottles and a towel and trained her what to do if the pan catches fire

ie.turn off the gas... soak the towel in water wring it out then place over the pan..leave to cool for 30 mins

couldnt find a fire blanket in CM but this method works and is worth teaching to teerac as we both know what will happen if u throw water on a oil pan fire

[pattayadingo]

I have 2 in the car and none in the house.

[phuturatica]

Where can I buy smoke alarms and fire blankets from?

[Crossy]

I've seen smokes in HomePro but ours and our blanket came from the UK

[jonnyscot]

We've both a fire blanket and an extinguisher in the kitchen with 2 smoke detectors in the house,, nothing in the car,, although the wife carries a hammer under the seat she says is in case the car crashes and goes into the canal,,,,, hopefully she's not telling me porkies about the hammer ,,, hehe,, seriously she's a softie and I do believe her explanation is genuine

[TomTao]

The house we rent has two, both are dry powder type, good for electrical, paper snd other solids, but not so good for oil and other flamable liquids.

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[krisb]

Where can I buy smoke alarms and fire blankets from?

When you find out, theres plenty of hotels around that would like to know. I dont know how they can let rooms without smoke detectors. Its also wrong how well known real estate companies who have offices in countries where a property cant be rented without smoke alarms, can be by their office in Thailand.

[chrisinth]

And a quick additional question for all those people who do have extinguishers, when was the last time they were tested or had the pressure checked? Do all responsible people in the household know how to use the particular extinguisher you have?

It is unfortunately mostly a feel-good purchase to have extinguishers about the house, but will they work when you actually do need them?

This is not trying to put a downer on the OP as to me it is extremely important to have first aid fire-fighting applications at hand, but the points above are often missed................

[WilliamCave]

I have smoke dectors in all the bed rooms work shop and main level in house with a fire extinguisher . Don't have a fire blanket

I do believe they can save lives , when I was building my house and put them in some Thais looked a me a little funny

[Crossy]

Good point Chris.

To answer your questions:-

We have two 4.5kg ABC units, they have pressure gauges and will be replaced if they get into the 'recharge' area, both are new (3 months) so I don't expect to have issues any time soon.

I was trained (Royal Navy, long, long ago) in first-aid firefighting and 'trained' Wifey with some packing cases and a small extinguisher bought for the purpose, how effective said training will be only time will tell but her seeing the effect of a relatively small extinguisher on a fire can only have encouraged her to actually use the bigger units.

I suspect that the blanket will get used more often as her kitchen activities are the most likely source of conflagration although she goes for the wet-tea-towel first when something gets out of hand.

EDIT One of numerous training videos on YouTube, if you have extinguishers watch it (or one of the others)

[Spoonman]

I have one in the Kitchen and one in the car. no fire blankets or smoke detectors.

[cmsally]

I have about 10 - seriously, I have seen the fire department response times and its scary.

You need to tip them up occasionally otherwise the chemical solidifies at the bottom of the tank. Thats as well as checking pressure and condition of hoses etc.

[lopburi3]

In our 35 years have not seen any fires in or near our village (in Bangkok) - this is in high contrast to my youth in US where home/grass fires were very common. Believe cement/tile/steel and relatively low amount of flammable furnishings in most Thai homes is the reason (sure it is not the advanced electric usage - although the early adoption and high usage of GFCI/RCBO likely helps a lot) - even when fire does happen here it seems to be the exception rather than the normal home in most cases (factory/shop home and illegal activities). That said have several extinguishers just in case but gave up on smoke detectors 20 years ago after repeated awakening from midnight rubbish burning.

[Spoonman]

And for those of who have windows bars and sliding gates on the doors make sure you know where at all times you have a key for the padlock.

[chunktal]

I'm a former NSW Rural Fire Service firefighter so I'm trained in fire fighting and basic first aid. We've got a small extinguisher in the kitchen with a large one and hose reel just outside the condo door, also a small one in the car. The condo does yearly fire drills including live fire drills with extinguishers. Fire alarms are tested monthly.

The company I worked for previously organised fire training for all staff at one of the local refineries which was interesting (all office based staff). Doing drills in their training area with pipe line fires and gas fires.

The one thing I stress to the wife though is that if there is a fire, grab the kids, get out and stay out, there is nothing in the condo worth more than that.

[chrisinth]

Good point Chris.

To answer your questions:-

We have two 4.5kg ABC units, they have pressure gauges and will be replaced if they get into the 'recharge' area, both are new (3 months) so I don't expect to have issues any time soon.

I was trained (Royal Navy, long, long ago) in first-aid firefighting and 'trained' Wifey with some packing cases and a small extinguisher bought for the purpose, how effective said training will be only time will tell but her seeing the effect of a relatively small extinguisher on a fire can only have encouraged her to actually use the bigger units.

I suspect that the blanket will get used more often as her kitchen activities are the most likely source of conflagration although she goes for the wet-tea-towel first when something gets out of hand.

EDIT One of numerous training videos on YouTube, if you have extinguishers watch it (or one of the others)

"I was trained (Royal Navy, long, long ago) in first-aid firefighting."

Funny old thing, so was I and it is probably the under-lying reason that I brought up the subject about testing and use.

At work here, I normally set one off every six months with the pressures checked weekly as part of the PMS. Certainly better safe than sorry!

[bunta71]

I have none of the above but will purchase a couple fire extinguishers today. Thanks for the reminder. Another note, salt will extinguish most kitchen fires on the stove and is usually right at hand...good thing for the little lady or anyone else to know about. Again thanks for the reminder.

[Crossy]

Great news bunta71, don't forget.

Not sure about the salt trick, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will certainly extinguish small fires (it's the main ingredient is some dry powder [b-C] extinguishers).

[jocko]

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Good posts a bit of training is a must and dont forget a bucket of sand is pretty good and give the extinguisher a good shake now and again i bought my fire blanket in the UK but a google search may turn up info for Thailand.

[JurgenG]

Thanks Crossy for this thread that reminds us of the importance of fire extinguishers.

I said I have one but I have it since we bought the house, more than 10 years ago, maybe it's time to buy a new one ....

For the smoke alarm, I have dogs. Does it count ?

[bunta71]

Great news bunta71, don't forget.

Not sure about the salt trick, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will certainly extinguish small fires (it's the main ingredient is some dry powder [b-C] extinguishers).

I grew up with my father who was one of the top "fire bosses " that supervises major wildfires in America. He also wrote manuals on firefighting techniques for the U.S. Forest Service and also was responsible for the water drop buckets you see under helicopters. He taught me about the salt and I have done it a few times through the years. It works in a pinch. Pun intended...this photo shows another way to do it but costs more than salt.

[Hedghog]

I don't have any live in a rental bungalow,

Don't really care if it burns down.

More to the point people living in shop house accommodation do you have an effective fire escape.

Always check any Hotel escape routes when travelling,

Hotels are my main concern for fire dangers.

That home environment you control yourself.

[Soutpeel]

I don't have any live in a rental bungalow,

Don't really care if it burns down.

More to the point people living in shop house accommodation do you have an effective fire escape.

Always check any Hotel escape routes when travelling,

Hotels are my main concern for fire dangers.

That home environment you control yourself.

But you would care if you were in said rented bungalow when it was burning down and you couldnt get out for some reason and you were BBQ'ed because of the lack of an extingisher on premises...

[Hedghog]

Doubt it.

I would be toast.

[Hedghog]

Said bungalow

6 windows 2 doors,always unlocked.

Burglars dream.

[villagefarang]

We rely on four dogs (both indoors and out), a cat and our overly sensitive noses. There is no organized local fire brigade that I am aware of.

[kurnell]

And a quick additional question for all those people who do have extinguishers, when was the last time they were tested or had the pressure checked? Do all responsible people in the household know how to use the particular extinguisher you have?

It is unfortunately mostly a feel-good purchase to have extinguishers about the house, but will they work when you actually do need them?

This is not trying to put a downer on the OP as to me it is extremely important to have first aid fire-fighting applications at hand, but the points above are often missed................

Mine is 2 years old. How often do they need to be tested?

[Crossy]

Mine is 2 years old. How often do they need to be tested?

Modern domestic dry-powder types are essentially maintenance-free, some people like to shake them up occasionally but so long as the gauge stays in the green you should be good to go.

It may have an expiry date somewhere, but I would replace every five years, gives you an opportunity to fire off the old unit to practice on a 'real' fire.

[Crossy]

It may have an expiry date somewhere,

Just checked my 'Imperial' 4.5kg units, no expiry or manufacturing date. I've written the date we bought them on the back in indelible marker, will replace at 5 years.

BTW, the reason we got the 4.5kg units is that they are the biggest that Wifey can comfortably pick up with one hand.