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Fire Extinguisher Training

The CER-T team had their fire safety and fire extinguisher training on Oct 15. We all learned a lot! Check out the pictures below to see some of what we learned! (If you are on a Cecil County dial-up, please be patient while the 12 photos load. It's worth it!) The training was done at the Chesapeake City substation in South Chesapeake City. 
Thanks to Roger Singley for the photos!

This is the training device. A Propane fire  bubbling up through water .	We trained using a varity of  A,B,C extinguishers.
You can't read the fireman's coat but it says  "Rising Sun VFC". Ask one of us why!	Did you know that fire extinguishers are  pressurized to between 100 and 200 psi?
A dry Powder extinguisher. Stay low and direct it across the fire, not down in it.	Pat was surprised at the weight of the extinguisher!
Did you know how to break the plastic seal?  None of us did until this training!	You can stay back about 10 to 15 feet from  the fire. Ronda is low and the right distance.
I didn't know a full extinguisher was only good for 10 to 15 seconds! Better to learn that here than at a real fire!	We're good friends so we can rib each other.  This is not the way to do it so we clipped his  head to hide his identity!
Our CERT leader. Looks like she's thinking  "Oh my God! What are they doing?"	The CCVFC couldn't do the training but these  guys from RS were good! Thanks guys!

So what did we learn that you should know?

• You only have 10 - 15 seconds with an extinguisher so if you can't do it in that time, get out before you run out!
• Never turn your back on an "extinguished" fire (like I did). Back away because it could flash back to life!
• Stay back 10 to 15 feet, stay low so you sweep across the source of the fire. Don't ever point the extinguisher down into it! If it is a liquid like grease, you will splatter burning fluid all over the place!
• P.A.S.S. Pull the pin, Aim the extinguisher, Squeeze the trigger, Sweep the extinguisher back and forth across the source of the fire.
• The extinguishers are pressurized to between 100 and 200 psi so the velocity of the powder is very high. If you point it down into a burning container, you will have an eruption of burning material! Sweep across the fire, not down into it!
• If your extinguisher still has the plastic ring to prevent accidental discharge on it , you can break it by twisting the pin but you will have trouble if you try to just pull the pin without twisting. Twist it to break the safety before trying to pull it.
• If you have never done this - I highly recommend you sign up for training somewhere. I thought it was a "piece of cake" to use one of these and I was wrong!