Common Myth
#24
All Class B fires
are the same.
Not at all.
Covered under Class B fires are a variety of fuels and
situations. If you look in NFPA 10, Class B fires are
divided into several categories.
Pressurized Flammable
Liquids
Pressurized Flammable
Gases
Three Dimensional Class
B Fires
Water Soluble Flammable
Liquid Fires
(Polar solvents)
Flammable Liquid Fires
of
Appreciable
Depth
Class B Fires Other than
Appreciable
Depth
Each one of these categories
represents different agent application technique, different
types of extinguishers and different methods of extinguishing
the fire. The only UL test fires are Flammable Liquid
Fires of Appreciable Depth using N-Heptane as fuel.
Fires involving Pressurized
Flammable Gases usually should NOT be extinguished unless
the fuel source can be shut off (if these fires are extinguished
and gas is allowed to flow a greater hazard will be created).
Kitchen Grease Fires are
now a separate class of fire - Class K per NFPA 10, 1998
edition.
We will discuss
each of these situations in different Guides to Hand Portable
Mythology. Some of this was discussed in Common
Myth #2 which dealt with agent flow rates.

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