In and around the house:

• Install a fire extinguisher in your house and/or garage where it is easily accessible.
• Hang up a folded fire blanket somewhere against the wall in your kitchen. This will assist in extinguishing possible fires in and around the kitchen.
• Be careful how you store your chemical substances in your home. Some chemicals e.g. break fluid and HTH-chorine used in swimming pools, will react spontaneously causing a fire when mixed together.
• Never ignore the smell of leaking gas in your home. Ordinary gas (LPG) used in your home, is heavier than air and will when leaking, spread along the ground and may accumulate in areas where it may become trapped. When ignited it will explode with disastrous consequences.

Emergency evacuation from your house in an emergency:

• It is advisable to have an emergency evacuation plan drawn up for your home.
• Everyone living in your house should be familiar with this plan.
• The escape routes from your house must be well known by everyone living there.
• Every room should have at least two escape routes. These may include doors and windows. For this reason make sure that you install burglar bars in front of windows that can be opened in an emergency
• The keys to doors, safety gates and burglar bars in front of windows should be kept in places where it’s easily accessible. All occupants in the house should know where it is kept.
• Keep a list of the telephone numbers of all emergency and other essential services next to the telephones in your house. This list must include the numbers of doctors, parents and other responsible persons. These lists should be updated on a regular basis.
• Choose an assembly point outside of your house that is safe and easily accessible.
• The emergency plan should be updated and discussed on a regular basis.
• Regular evacuation exercises from your home should be held so that everyone becomes familiar with it.
• Everyone living in your house should know where the fire extinguishing equipment e.g. fire extinguishers and fire blankets, are kept. They must also know how to operate it.

Different types of fire extinguishers (FE) to be used:

Dry chemical powder FE:

Advantages:

• It is less expensive to buy that other fire extinguishers.
• It can be used on all types of fires except certain types of metal fires.
• It is also less expensive to service and refill as opposed to other fire extinguishers.
• It is available in different sizes depending on your individual needs.

Disadvantages:

• It is very messy when used, due to the powder-extinguishing agent being released under pressure.
• It does not have a good cooling characteristic. It is for this reason that you should not turn your back to the extinguished fire as it may re-ignite.
• The powder agent in these types of fire extinguishers has a potentially damaging effect on delicate electronic equipment e.g. cell phones, televisions and multimedia equipment, computers and related equipment.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) FE:

Advantages:

• The extinguishing agent is not as messy as the dry powder fire extinguisher. This will lead to less disruption in your home in the event that you will need to extinguish a small fire by yourself.
• It can be used on all types of fires.
• It does potentially not have the same damaging effect on delicate electronic equipment as in the case of dry chemical powder fire extinguishers (however this should be confirmed before-hand).
• These fire extinguishers are also available in an aluminum casing, making it lighter and easier to handle.
• It is available in different sizes, depending on your individual needs.

Disadvantages:

• It is more expensive to buy, than dry powder fire extinguishers.
• It is a vessel under pressure and should be treated with the necessary caution.
• It is also more expensive to service and refill as opposed to dry powder fire extinguishers.
• It is heavy and will be difficult to operate by certain individuals in your house, if you were to obtain the steel type of CO2 - fire extinguisher.

Fire extinguishers should only be bought from approved outlets. Fire extinguishers can only be serviced or refilled by SABS - approved agents.

Drakenstein Fire Service can be contacted at 021- 8721404, for more information on where to buy fire extinguishers or fire blankets