Fire extinguishers for tennis club

[Guest Mike Lewis]

We are a local tennis club currently in the middle of constructing a new clubhouse. We do not know which type of extinguishers would be best. Risks are: there is a kitchen area (burning oil ?), potential of a 'wastepaper bin fire', gas for the central heating boiler and a low possibility of an electrical fire. Any advice gratefully received.

[Shawn Bosworth]

Hi Mike,

Without seeing the premises we can't give you a comprehensive list of what you would need, we can only give you guidance in relation to the information you've given.

In the kitchen area, do you have a deep fat fryer? If you do you would need either a wet chemical, dry water mist or ABF foam extinguisher. If not you would be ok with a fire blanket but it would be advisable to still have one of the three extinguishers just in case.

The waste paper bin fire risk can be covered with a foam or water fire extinguisher (this would also be covered by one of the three extinguishers listed above).

The gas risk, it isn't advisable to simply put out a gas fire unless you are specifically trained to deal with gas fires. You should shut off the gas and then tackle anything that the flame has ignited which would usually be Class A (similar to the waste bin fire).

The electricity fire, as long as the water based extinguisher you choose (water/foam) has passed the 35kV test then it is safe to use around live electricity as long as you are more than 1m away (electricity doesn't burn, it is the ignition source so you would probably be tackling Class A fires again, as above).

All that being said, to comply with the British Standard you would need a minimum of 2 x Class A rated fire extinguishers with a combined minimum Class A rating of 26A. That is the bare minimum before covering any specific risks.

I would suggest one of these http://www.safelincs.co.uk/2ltr-wet-chemical-fire-extinguisher/ for the kitchen area (suitable for Class A and Class F) and a 6ltr foam for the rest of the clubhouse http://www.safelincs.co.uk/ultrafire-redline-6ltr-afff-foam-fire-extinguisher/

These would cover the bare minimum for a building of no more than 400m² without addressing any additional risks. To get a full picture of what you need it would be best to have a site survey http://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-extinguisher-site-survey/

Kind regards

Shawn

Safelincs

[Tom Sutton]

You have a class A risk (organic material) and a class F risk (cooking oil in the kitchen). You should never try to extinguish a class C fire other than cutting off the supply then using a class A extinguisher or fire blanket. For electric risk you should again cut off the supply and use a class A extinguisher. You can get class A extinguishers that claim to be safe on electric risk but always isolate the electric appliance from the supply. The only problem is, the supply intake cupboard or room where it may be impossible to isolate the mains and I would suggest a CO2 extinguisher.

You need extinguishers for the class A to a rating of 26A for the first 200 m2 and 13A for every 200 m2 thereafter. You need a class F extinguisher depending on the size of you deep fat fryer and I would also include a fire blanket. Finally a CO extinguisher for the meter cupboard or room.

Check out for more detailed information. http://www.firesafe.org.uk/portable-fire-extinguisher-general/ and http://www.firesafe.org.uk/types-use-and-colours-of-portable-fire-extinguishers/