Subject: Fire extinguishers
I have not dealt with chemical fire extinguishers in the aftermath of a fire, but in researching "ABC" extinguishers a couple of years ago, I was informed by the staff of the NFPA that they were extremely caustic. This person agreed that this feature could present problems for cleanup of library and archival materials (not to mention other artifacts) given the high alkalinity of the chemicals. At the very least, people should be aware of this feature when they are dealing with materials that have been coated with the chemical and potentially prioritize them for cleanup. Both "ABC" and water will put out the common combustible material fires. The water tends to come out in a little more of a stream. Concurrently "ABC" extinguishers are recommended by many fire departments because of their versatility, but many of these people also do not have any idea of their potential effect on books and papers. They are much more interested in just putting the fire out as quickly as possible without creating a dangerous situation for the user (rightly so). However, I am finding that the majority of persons participating in Disaster Preparedness Workshops do not have the slightest idea how to operate a fire extinguisher in the first place, let alone know about their effects or for that matter the effects of a 1 1/2" stream of water at 130-150 psi would have on their materials. What a great advertisement for sprinkler systems or water misting systems! Gregor Trinkaus-Randall Collection Management/Preservation Specialist Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners 648 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02215-2070 617-267-9400, 800-952-7403 (in-state) Fax: 617-421-9833 *** Conservation DistList Instance 11:93 Distributed: Friday, May 15, 1998 Message Id: cdl-11-93-001 ***Received on Friday, 15 May, 1998