When it comes to the use of firefighting equipment, there are two ways to look at it. You can look at from the viewpoint of the firefighters that might be called to a home or business to combat a fire. You can also take the standpoint of the homeowner or workers at a building where the fire breaks out.
A training course will always be advisable for anyone who works at a company’s brick-and-mortar store location. These training courses will teach a worker what to do if they’re suddenly faced with a fire situation.
Such workers should also have basic knowledge of how firefighting equipment is used, though, so let’s talk about that right now.
Fire Extinguishers
Looking at firefighting from the point of view of an employee, a fire extinguisher is going to be the best weapon available for combatting any small blaze that might break out. Every building should be equipped with fire extinguishers. It is the job of building ownership or management to supply those.
A standard fire extinguisher should always be fully charged. There is a gauge on it that will indicate that it is.
If a fire breaks out, anyone who is trained in the use of the extinguisher can utilize it. They can remember the handy acronym PASS. It stands for pulling the pin, aiming the hose attachment at the base of the flame, squeezing the trigger, and sweeping in a back and forth motion.
A Sprinkler System
Most modern buildings will also have wet-pipe sprinkler systems. These systems consist of pipes that go throughout the building. You can usually enter any modern office building and see them at the ceiling level, reinforced by brackets.
These pipes are fed water through a standpipe, a larger pipe that normally goes from the building’s base all the way up to the top floor. The pipes should already have water in them, so they can be ready to go if a fire ever starts.
The good news for building workers is that the sprinkler system should start spraying water automatically if temperatures rise high enough to trigger it. The water will also drench anyone who happens to be below, but that is a small price to pay for putting the fire out.
Water from Fire Hoses
A fire might also start in a building that a fire extinguisher or the sprinkler system can’t handle. That’s when the fire department needs to come in with the big guns.
When a fire truck arrives, they will ordinarily screw their hoses into one of two places. They can either use a fire hydrant or the end of a pipe that juts out of the side of the building. This connection point is sometimes called a siamese connection.
Once the hose is connected, the firefighters will immediately have access to a very powerful and abundant source of water. Hopefully, they will be able to use it to put out the fire, and all the employees will also have evacuated the building.
