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NFPA Revises Portable Fire Extinguisher Servicing Recommendations
3/28/2007
 By: Albert Zorn, NFPA Certified Fire Protection Specialist, citywidefire.com
Picture this: Your fire extinguisher service company is performing annual maintenance at your facility. The licensed technician approaches you with the final count of extinguishers certified, those in need of recharge or required testing and a list of extinguishers needing replacement. But this time, the technician asks you to sit before providing you the report. Your look at the report, you look at the technician and say 'you must be out of your mind!' The truth is, he is up-to-date with NFPA 10 Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers, 2007 Edition'and you ' are not!
As of January 1, 2007 some significant changes will affect how your fire extinguishers are serviced. NFPA Standards are just that ' standards, not enforceable municipal fire code. But, reputable service companies will be operating out of the latest standard as will most liability insurance underwriters. Municipalities usually take longer to adopt the latest NFPA Standards, but the private sector'especially the insurance industry'is setting the pace for compliance these days.
For this reason, you should be familiar with the most important changes in NFPA 10 Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers, 2007 Edition as follows:
- All fire extinguisher technicians must be certified by August 17, 2008. Currently, fire extinguisher technicians are licensed by the State Fire Marshal or city fire department in which they operate.
- The technician has to be certified by a recognized organization through a formal certification program. If you do not take it upon yourself to ensure your service provider's technicians are certified, it may bite you back in the event of a loss investigation. Better safe and certified than sorry.
There is a list of common extinguishers that will be obsolete and must be removed from service. Some obsolete types are as follows:
- Pressurized water fire extinguishers manufactured prior to 1971.
- Any extinguisher that needs to be inverted to operate.
- Any stored pressure extinguisher manufactured prior to 1955.
- Any extinguisher with 4B, 6B, 8B, 12B, and 16B fire ratings.
- Stored pressure water extinguishers with fiberglass shells (pre-1976).
Dry Chemical stored pressure extinguishers manufactured prior to October 1984 shall be removed from service at the next 6 year maintenance interval or the next hydrotest interval, whichever comes first.
Any extinguisher that can no longer be serviced in accordance with the manufacturer's maintenance manual is considered obsolete and shall be removed from service.
Fire Extinguishers shall be provided for the protection of both the building structure and the occupancy hazards inside the facility regardless of the presence of any fixed fire suppression system.
If you have any sources of Pressurized Flammable Liquids and Pressurized Gas Fires, a large capacity fire extinguisher (10lbs or greater) and a fast/high-flow discharge rate of 1lb/sec or more should be used to protect this newly classified hazard. Several manufacturers make these types of high-performance extinguishers. Ask your service provider to help with selection.
Areas containing Oxidizers, such as swimming pool chemical storage or equipment rooms, must be equipped only with Water type fire extinguishers, barring the use of ABC dry chemical in these hazard areas.
Monthly inspection procedures no longer require checking safety seals, HMIS labels, examination of obvious physical damage, corrosion, leakage or clogged nozzles unless certain circumstances are present. Also, monthly inspections are no longer required where fire extinguisher electronic monitoring is in place.
Basically, this means you will need to be replacing many of your decades old extinguishers, extinguishers made by manufacturers that are no longer in business, and extinguishers no longer supported by active manufacturers.
The good news is that new extinguishers often cost only 1/3 more than major service and carry up to a six-year manufacturer's warranty. New fire extinguishers comply with the latest standards and meet their UL rating requirements. Many old fire extinguishers do not. Let's face it ' what good is a piece of safety equipment that does not function to measured expectations'
So when you receive the report from your fire extinguisher service company don't be surprised -- be ready to ask relevant questions to determine you have been serviced to compliance. NFPA 10 Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers, 2007 Edition is a great standard with much needed changes. Armed with knowledge and a reputable service provider, you can be in compliance and make the appropriate investments for your facility's fire safety compliance.
-Submitted by Chris Mitchell
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