NEW TYPE OF FIRE EXTINGUISHER

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24905, 19 June 1946, Page 8

NEW TYPE OF FIRE EXTINGUISHER

SUCCESSFUL TESTS IN CHRISTCHURCH The success of a new type of extinguisher, for dealing with petrol and similar fires in their incipient stages, was briefly discussed by members of the Christchurch Fire Board test evening. The new extinguishers, it was stated, were of a type used during the war to put out fires in aircraft. Now released for civil use. they were being manufactured locally. Their efficacy had been proved in several recent fires in Christchurch, said the chairman, Mr T. M. Charters. He had attended a recent test’ of one of them in the office of the superintendent, Mr A. Morrison: The ex-

tinguisher had quickly put out a fire on the linoleum floor. After the fire was out he had tried to pick up some of the ash-like deposit it had left. “It was like a burning coal,” he said “And so it should be, for it was 100 degrees below zero.”

. The great virtue of the new extinguisher, said Mr Morrison, was that it did not damage surrounding fabrics while extinguishing fires, nor would it conduct an electric shock. It had its limitations, and could be used only for incipent fires. It worked with a terrific pressure, like a gun, and its efficacy had been fully proved during the war. Mr Morrison’s report stated that nine o. the new extinguishers had been bought locally and put into commission. . 1