P.A.S.S. fire extinguisher method - unofficial training and practice session

I am NOT a fire prevention professional so please look to other sites for accurate information! Fire prevention and fighting fires is serious stuff that I don't know a lot about so please don't rely on my videos for all your information!

That being said, I have been the Facility Safety Coordinator for my office in Boulder, Colorado for many years now. Each year I conduct an informal training session for our emergency evacuation teams, safety committee, and safety captains. Sometimes the training lasts almost two hours as I cover everything from emergency preparedness and tornadoes to building evacuation and fire prevention.

In this video I'm emphasizing the "P.A.S.S." method for fire extinguisher use. P.A.S.S. is an acronym for "Pull the Pin, Aim at the base of the fire, Squeeze, and Sweep" - a good method for the use of a fire extinguisher. I also teach that we can't rely on a fire extinguisher to actually "fight" fires - most of the fire extinguishers hanging on the wall in your factory or at school only last 20 to 30 seconds - not enough time to actually "fight" a fire. Rather, fire extinguishers are generally used to put out or control small, incipient fires that may be blocking an emergency exit, doorway, or some other egress.

The idea is to put out the small fire, if you can, and then get everybody out of harm's way. Then, call for help - don't endanger your own safety, or that of other people, by trying to "fight" a fire with an extinguisher that might last 30 seconds at best. Where I work we don't require that you "fight" a fire or even be a hero trying to save somebody else - if there's any chance you could get hurt, or endanger others, my advice is to get out of there and call for help!

Here's my web page about Boulder, Colorado where I conducted this training:
http://www.rogerwendell.com/boulder.html

02-25-2009

Category:

Education

Tags:

• fire
• extinguisher
• training
• practice
• p.a.s.s.
• pull
• pin
• aim
• squeeze
• sweep
• boulder
• colorado