How Are Fire Extinguishers Rated?

Every home and car should have easy access to a fire extinguisher. It is wise to have one on each level of your home and one should also be kept in the garage. Fires spread quickly and valuable time is lost when your extinguisher cannot be located quickly.

Class A

Use class A for wood and paper or ordinary combustibles. If there is a numerical rating on your extinguisher, it is referring to the amount of water it holds.

Class B

Class B extinguishers are for flammable liquids. This would include oil, gasoline and grease. The numerical rating for this extinguisher is giving the number of square feet of fire the average person can put out.

Class C

This class is used for electrical fires. The C refers to non-conductive and there is no numerical rating.

Class D

These extinguishers are to be used for flammable metals and are often designated for one specific metal.

Multi-Purpose

This type will be labeled with a mixture of uses. It could be labeled as A-B, or A-B-C or something else.