Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Note: Fire Extinguisher Under Desk 

The guy who services our fire reels and extinguishers came today. Pointing to a cupboard in our office, he said There should be one in there.

As I turned to take a look, I thought How does he know that? and How come I don't know that? Then I had a little mental freak as I prepared for the possibility that the extinguisher was not in the cupboard.

Then he said, Oh, there it is there, under the desk. The desk being my desk. I'd seen it there before, of course, but I'm glad he spotted it. I might have panicked while scanning the entire place for it with my two or three degrees of central vision.

You'd think I'd have made the important connection between fires and the fire extinguisher before.

So now I shall remember -

The fire extinguisher that sits under my desk is the same one the guy from Bell Fire Equipment will want to check AND the same one I should use in the event of a fire.

All I need do is pull the pin to the side of the nozzle - which breaks a plastic tie - and then aim before I squeeze the trigger. In a small room, I can just use the extinguisher and close the door. In larger rooms I'll need to get closer to the actual fire. The extinguisher under my desk is good for electrical, gas and flammable liquids. If oil catches fire on the stove, then I should wish for an extinguisher containing sodium carbonate, which is pretty much the bicarbonate soda used in baking, under pressure. Of course, if there was an oil fire at home and I raced into the pantry for some bicarbonate soda, I know that even if the bicarb itself isn't under pressure, at least I will be.

// posted by Deanne @ 14:51
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