A small fire starts in a workshop bin. Someone grabs the nearest extinguisher, pulls the pin, and discovers it is a water unit and the fire is in a socket. That is the point where a manageable incident becomes a call to the fire service.
Most workplaces have extinguishers. Far fewer have the right ones in the right places, and almost nobody can tell you when they were last serviced. It is the question we get asked most weeks, usually right after a fire risk assessment has flagged it.
The answer starts with what is burning, not what is cheapest.
The five fire classes
UK extinguishers are rated against the fire classes in BS EN 2. Strip out the jargon and it is simple.
Class A is solids that leave ash: paper, wood, cardboard, textiles, most packaging. Class B is flammable liquids such as petrol, diesel, paints, thinners and solvents. Class C is flammable gases, LPG, propane and acetylene. Class D is metals like magnesium or aluminium swarf, which is rare outside machining and engineering. Class F is cooking oils and fats, which means deep fat fryers and commercial kitchens.
Electrical fires are not a class of their own. They get handled separately because the risk changes the moment you isolate the power, and because water and foam are the wrong tool while the current is still on.
What each extinguisher actually does
Water, red. Class A only. Cheap, effective, and the one most likely to make an electrical or cooking oil fire considerably worse.
Foam, cream. Class A and B. The foam floats on burning liquid and seals the surface, cutting off the vapour feeding the fire. Useful anywhere solvents or fuels are stored.
Powder, ABC, blue. Class A, B and C, and safe on live electrical equipment. It works fast, but it is messy and it can write off electronics and machinery. In a small room the cloud makes it hard to see and breathe, so whoever uses it needs a clear way out.
CO2, black. Electrical equipment and Class B. No residue, which is why it sits beside server racks and switchgear. Two things catch people out. The horn gets extremely cold in use, so hold the handle and not the horn, and CO2 disperses quickly, so a fire can re-ignite once the gas clears.
Wet chemical, yellow. Class F. It reacts with hot oil to form a soapy layer that cools and seals the surface. Nothing else belongs on a fryer.
Since the late 1990s, UK extinguishers have had red bodies with the type shown by a colour band and label, rather than the old full-colour scheme. An older full-colour unit is not automatically wrong, but it is worth checking against current standards before you rely on it.
The servicing schedule nobody remembers
There are two sets of duties here and they get muddled.
The legal one sits with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Article 13 requires the responsible person to make sure the premises are equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment, that it is easily accessible, simple to use, and indicated by signs. Article 17 covers maintenance.
The technical one is BS 5306. In practice it works out like this. A monthly visual check by you or a nominated person, looking for the pin in place, the gauge in the green, no damage, still in its bracket, sign still visible, and all of it written in the logbook. An annual basic service by a competent person to BS 5306-3, normally within a month of the previous date. An extended service every five years on water, foam, powder and wet chemical units. A hydrostatic pressure test every ten years on CO2. A recharge after any use or partial discharge before the unit goes back on the wall. And a decision around the 20 year mark on overhaul or replacement.
Competence is the part people skip. BAFE SP101 registration is the recognised scheme in the UK, and it is what insurers and fire risk assessors expect to see. If your contractor cannot show it, ask them why.
How many you need, and where
BS 5306-8:2023 covers selection and siting. The Class A baseline is at least two extinguishers on each floor, with a combined rating of 26A covering the first 105 square metres, scaled up from there. Nobody should have to travel more than 30 metres to reach one. A kitchen tightens that to 10 metres for the wet chemical unit.
Four things turn up again and again. Provision that was designed for an office and left in place after the unit became a workshop or a kitchen. Extinguishers behind a stack of pallets or a locked door, which is not accessible in any useful sense. A sign pointing at an empty bracket. And units taken away for servicing that never came back.
A fire risk assessment should drive the mix. It should not be a default pack bought once and never reviewed.
What else goes with them
Fire blankets handle small pan fires, and they are also what you wrap round a person whose clothing is alight. They are cheap, and they are the item most often missing from a kit.
Stands matter more than they look. A floor-standing unit gets knocked over, and a dented one is scrap.
Signs are part of the same Article 13 duty. If the equipment is not indicated, the duty has not been met, however good the extinguishers are.
What it costs
Current ex-VAT prices from our fire protection range:
- EXP2 2kg ABC powder extinguisher, £24.04
- Fire extinguisher 6kg ABC powder, £46.46
- Commander 9kg ABC powder, £60.14
- CommanderEDGE 9 litre water, £36.50
- Commander 6 litre water spray, £44.30
- PowerX 6 litre foam, £68.31
- 5kg CO2, £45.99
- CommanderEDGE 2kg CO2, £46.00
- PowerX 2 litre wet chemical, £45.08
- Fire blanket 1.2m x 1.2m, £15.36
- Single extinguisher stand, £19.98
- Double extinguisher stand, £32.50
A small workshop or trade unit, two 9 litre water units, one 5kg CO2, two blankets and a double stand, comes to £182.21. Spread over a five year service cycle that is £36 a year, which is not much against the cost of losing a building.
Getting the mix right
If you are not sure what you need, send us the findings from your fire risk assessment, or a floor plan with the risks marked on it, and we will tell you what the schedule is short of. We supply the extinguishers, blankets, stands and signage, and we can point you towards BAFE registered servicing in your area.
Call us on +44(0)1236 755544, or browse the fire protection range on our shop.
REF: FIRE-EXTINGUISHER-GUIDE
