Automatic Fire Extinguisher

The Importance of the Manual & Automatic Fire Extinguisher

In my past experience as a commercial establishment property manager, I have come in contact with a good number of different businesses that come to operate in our establisments. I have found that when it comes to fire safety, the recommendations are usually dependent on what particular operation they are involved in. I remember this one client that had a business that distributed scientific equipment across the United Kingdom. This meant that they had chemicals, sensitive electronic equipment and the like. This was the first time that I encountered the installation of an automatic fire extinguisher in their area - that are designed to go off when a the area reaches a certain point in temperature. This was a particular safety measure for them since a certain combination of chemicals or faulty products may cause a major fire even in the abscence of personnel at any given time.

My point? That different fire safety solutions are required of different establishments. Don't forget that the UK is known for the frequent incidents of fires, and that the recent Fire Safety Order (FSO) 2005 requires all businesses to take satisfactory fire safety measures. Now whether it is the right installation of fire extinguisher cabinets or mounts, all companies must comply with this.

This brings me to the importance of the and automatic fire extinguisher. Manual fire extinguishers are the ones we are most familiar with, available in different types and sizes while the automatic variant is used to safeguard a certain area, usually ranging from the 2 cubic meters to the size of a small room. These come in different sizes, types, brands and such catering to every fire safety need.

These two kinds of fire extinguishers are very important since aside from following the aforementioned Fire Safety Law, they are major factors in keeping an area safe and protecting your assets. For instance, kitchen fires in restaurants aren't uncommon - plus they are cumbersome to put out especially if it came from cooking oil which means the flames are burning at very high temperatures. A top-of-the-line manual extinguisher carrying a particular chemical designed specifically for cooking oil flame is used in this case, and must be stored in long-lasting and easily accessible fire extinguisher cabinets. An automatic fire extinguisher as mentioned, needs to be used in chemical heavy businesses where a fire can spark and spread at any given time in certain areas.

The importance of these extinguishers lie in the simple fact that fire safety is different from one business to another. The best way to fireproof a place and thereby comply with the UK safety laws is to consult with a local fire station and with fire protection companies that frankly, know better than most of us. In my experience, the cost of fire safety equipment isn't cheap at all - but imagine how much they can save - not to mention the priceless lives of people. Whether is about buying simple fire extinguisher cabinets or finding out which manual extinguisher works best for your electronics shop, they are no doubt essential.