Fire Extinguisher Suitable For a Showroom and Shopping Mall!

Posted on Mar 28, 2023

Earlier Times

In the earlier decades, the most common form of enjoyment was to socialize as there were no other means. I remember, our parents and grandparents sitting in the verandahs with neighbors and having long chats over tea. I remember sometimes a group of houses in a neighborhood cooked their meals together.

Modern (Mall ) Times

Times have changed, with nuclear families and people living in flats. People work hard for the whole week and want to relax hard on the weekend. The place for relaxing and entertainment is now a shopping mall.

There are big shopping malls in all cities of India including the smaller cities of India. People of all ages throng the malls, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. The visits are not mostly for purchasing but for feeling relaxed and happy by either doing window shopping or having a burger at McDonald's or just watching other shoppers.

Chances of Fire in Shopping Mall

With the huge rush of people in malls on few days of the week, it can be difficult to manage a fire situation by the mall management authorities. The risk of fire increases due to increased activity of shoppers of all ages who can’t be expected to be experts in fire safety or the use of fire extinguishers. Moreover, the chances of negligence by shoppers and visitors are more as they can’t be expected to be as careful and disciplined as they are while at their homes and places of work.

Types of Fire in a Shopping Mall

Hence, having a brief idea of types of fire and types of fire extinguishers is a must for all shoppers when in shopping malls and big showrooms (like Big Bazaar, Lifestyle, central, food courts, etc.) as the escape can be a big challenge in case of fire accident unless a person is somehow mentally prepared for his/her safe exit from the unsafe area.

Types of fire extinguisher

Mostly a showroom/shop/outlet in a mall is prone to electrically started fires due to heavy consumption of electricity in lighting, airconditioning etc. Another reason for it to be a high-risk area is that most of the showrooms in a mall are focused on garments sale and they use mostly all combustible material in the internal construction of the showroom. In this case, a spark from a decorative light will start a big fire unless the showroom staff is very active and well prepared to extinguish the fire using the portable fire extinguisher.

The other problem in a mall outlet is the tendency of showroom managers to hide the fire extinguishers as they believe that it spoils the décor of their stylishly interior designed shop.

Type of fire extinguisher for a showroom/shopping outlet

In general, there are 8 different types or categories of fire extinguishers ( water/foam, carbon dioxide, Dry ABC Powder type, Wet Chemical, Clean Agent, BC Dry powder, Water Mist, Cartridge operated Dry chemical ) to manage 5 different types (class A, class B, class C, class D, class K ) of fire.

However, the common type of fire extinguishers we see in open mall areas, passages, and mall outlets are the ABC powder type and the Carbon dioxide (co2) types of capacities 4kg to 6kg. These are available as these two types are effective on general types of fire that could occur in a shop/showroom/mall outlet. Moreover, these are easy to handle and manage. Although simple to use, practical training is a must at least once a year for all including kids, parents, grandparents.

Being aware of the usage of the above two types is important for all of us. Both ABC type and CO2, carbon dioxide type fire extinguishers have usage/ handling instructions written on them.

Mostly we all should remember P.A.S.S technique of usage of fire extinguisher or contact Impact  Fire & Safety Appliances (P) Ltd (IF&S) for “free of cost” fire extinguisher usage training.