My New Discovery - Fire extinguishers

Still about my discoveries in my own house, care to guess what I found tucked at the very back of one of my kitchen cabinets? Fire extinguishers! Not 1 but 4 of them.

Since our country lies near the equator, our temperature is about 32C (89.6F) on a normal non-summer-peak day. Last Wednesday, I just heard on the news that Manila sizzled at 37.5C (99.5F), it's hottest for the year and is expected to breach the 38C (100.4F) mark. Statistics show year on year that fire breakouts increase every summer. They are caused mostly by appliances left unattended and short-circuiting due to extreme heat.

Upon seeing those fire extinguishers, I was both dismayed and relieved. Dismayed that my ex-helper never thought to ask where to put them. Of course, I would have scattered them all over the house in strategic places so we can get to them fast in an emergency. But I was relieved just knowing I had them available.

I've heard oftentimes that people would rather be robbed and lose some things rather than lose everything due to fire. So upon seeing my new discoveries, I check on their expiration date. There was none. I immediately googled to know more about it and found out that if it hasn't been used, it's good for 6 years AND should be tested once a year. The thing is, these were given to us almost 2 years ago. I don't know exactly when it was bought or if it was even tested. I guess I'll have to bring it somewhere to have it checked and refilled if needed.

Another thing I found out from Google was that there were different types of extinguishers for different classes of fires. Since we had lots of electrical equipments in the house (PCs, laptops, servers, switches and a big bulky multi-function copier), it would be best if we have a couple of CO2 fire extinguishers as well. It can tackle electrical fires and is safe for sensitive electrical equipments. If it's true, then I can rest assured that most of our equipments can still be used in the event that we use the CO2 fire extinguisher instead of the conventional foam extinguisher. Imagine the saved investment in that! I do hope though that the time to use it never comes.

How about you? Any new discoveries in your own house?