THE FIRE TRIANGLE

In order to understand how a fire extinguisher works, you need to know about "The Fire Triangle."

Four things must be present at the same time in order to produce fire.

• Enough oxygen to sustain combustion
• Enough heat to raise the material to its ignition temperature
• Some sort of fuel or combustible material, and
• the chemical, exothermic reaction that is fire. 

Oxygen, heat and fuel are frequently referred to as the “fire triangle.”  Add the fourth element, the chemical reaction, and you actually have the “fire tetrahedron.”  The important thing to remember is when you take any of these four things away, you will not have a fire, or the fire will be extinguished.

Essentially, fire extinguishers put out fires by taking away one or more elements of the fire triangle/tetrahedron.

Fire safety, at its most basic, is based upon the principle of keeping fuel sources and ignition sources separate from each other.

Fire safety, at its most basic, is based upon the principle of keeping fuel sources and ignition sources separate from each other.