Fire classes

In firefighting, fires are identified according to one or more fire classes. Each class designates
the fuel involved in the fire, and thus the most appropriate extinguishing agent. The
classifications allow selection of extinguishing agents along lines of effectiveness at putting the
type of fire out, as well as avoiding unwanted side-effects. For example, non-conductive
extinguishing agents are rated for electrical fires, so to avoid electrocuting the firefighter.

Multiple classification systems exist, with different designations for the various classes of fire.
The United States uses the NFPA system.

Comparison of fire classes

Ordinary combustibles
"Ordinary combustible" fires are the most common type of fire, and are designated Class A under
both systems. These occur when a solid, organic material such as wood, cloth, rubber, or some
plastics[1] become heated to their ignition point. At this point the material undergoes combustion
and will continue burning as long as the four components of the fire tetrahedron (heat, fuel,
oxygen, and the sustaining chemical reaction) are available.

This class of fire is commonly used in controlled circumstances, such as a campfire, match or
wood-burning stove. To use the campfire as an example, it has a fire tetrahedron—the heat is
provided by another fire (such as a match or lighter), the fuel is the wood, the oxygen is naturally
available in the open-air environment of a forest, and the chemical reaction links the three other
facets. This fire is not dangerous, because the fire is contained to the wood alone and is usually
isolated from other flammable materials, for example by bare ground and rocks. However, when
a class-A fire burns in a less-restricted environment the fire can quickly grow out of control and
become a wildfire. This is the case when firefighting and fire control techniques are required.

This class of fire is fairly simple to fight and contain—by simply removing the heat, oxygen, or
fuel, or by suppressing the underlying chemical reaction, the fire tetrahedron collapses and the
fire dies out. The most common way to do this is by removing heat by spraying the burning
material with water; oxygen can be removed by smothering the fire with foam from a fire
extinguisher; forest fires are often fought by removing fuel by backburning; and an ammonium
phosphate dry chemical powder fire extinguisher (but not sodium bicarbonate or potassium
bicarbonate both of which are rated for B-class[clarification needed] fires) breaks the fire's underlying
chemical reaction.

As these fires are the most commonly encountered, most fire departments have equipment to
handle them specifically. While this is acceptable for most ordinary conditions, most firefighters
find themselves having to call for special equipment such as foam in the case of other fires.

Flammable liquid and gas

A CO2 fire extinguisher rated for flammable liquids and gasses

These are fires whose fuel is flammable or combustible liquid or gas. The US system designates
all such fires "Class B". In the European/Australian system, flammable liquids are designated
"Class B", while burning gases are separately designated "Class C". These fires follow the same
basic fire tetrahedron (heat, fuel, oxygen, chemical reaction) as ordinary combustible fires,
except that the fuel in question is a flammable liquid such as gasoline, or gas such as natural gas.
A solid stream of water should never be used to extinguish this type because it can cause the fuel
to scatter, spreading the flames. The most effective way to extinguish a liquid or gas fueled fire
is by inhibiting the chemical chain reaction of the fire, which is done by dry chemical and Halon
extinguishing agents, although smothering with CO2 or, for liquids, foam is also effective. Halon
has fallen out of favor in recent times because it is an ozone-depleting material; the Montreal
Protocol declares that Halon should no longer be used. Chemicals such as FM-200 are now the
recommended halogenated suppressant. Some newer clean agents designed to replace halon
work by cooling the liquid below its flash point, but these have limited class B[clarification needed]
effect.

Electrical
Electrical fires are fires involving potentially energized electrical equipment. The US system
designates these "Class C"; the Australian system designates them "Class E". This sort of fire
may be caused by, for example, short-circuiting machinery or overloaded electrical cables. These
fires can be a severe hazard to firefighters using water or other conductive agents: Electricity
may be conducted from the fire, through water, the firefighter's body, and then earth. Electrical
shocks have caused many firefighter deaths.

Electrical fire may be fought in the same way as an ordinary combustible fire, but water, foam,
and other conductive agents are not to be used. While the fire is, or could possibly be electrically
energized, it can be fought with any extinguishing agent rated for electrical fire. Carbon dioxide
CO2, FM-200 and dry chemical powder extinguishers such as PKP and even baking soda are
especially suited to extinguishing this sort of fire. PKP should be a last resort solution to
extinguishing the fire due to its corrosive tendencies. Once electricity is shut off to the equipment
involved, it will generally become an ordinary combustible fire.

Metal
Certain metals are flammable or combustible. Fires involving such are designated "Class D" in
both systems. Examples of such metals include sodium, titanium, magnesium, potassium,
uranium, lithium, plutonium, and calcium. Magnesium and titanium fires are common. When
one of these combustible metals ignites, it can easily and rapidly spread to surrounding ordinary
combustible materials.

With the exception of the metals that burn in contact with air or water (for example, sodium),
masses of combustible metals do not represent unusual fire risks because they have the ability to
conduct heat away from hot spots so efficiently that the heat of combustion cannot be maintained
—this means that it will require a lot of heat to ignite a mass of combustible metal. Generally,
metal fire risks exist when sawdust, machine shavings and other metal 'fines' are present.
Generally, these fires can be ignited by the same types of ignition sources that would start other
common fires.

Water and other common firefighting materials can excite metal fires and make them worse. The
NFPA recommends that metal fires be fought with "dry powder" extinguishing agents. Dry
powder agents work by smothering and heat absorption. The most common of these agents are
sodium chloride granules and graphite powder. In recent years powdered copper has also come
into use.

Some extinguishers are labeled as containing dry chemical extinguishing agents. This may be
confused with dry powder. The two are not the same. Using one of these extinguishers in error,
in place of dry powder, can be ineffective or actually increase the intensity of a metal fire.
Metal fires represent a unique hazard because people are often not aware of the characteristics of
these fires and are not properly prepared to fight them. Therefore, even a small metal fire can
spread and become a larger fire in the surrounding ordinary combustible materials.

Cooking oils and fats (kitchen fires)

Laboratory simulation of a chip pan fire: a beaker containing wax is heated until it catches fire. A
small amount of water is then poured into the beaker. The water sinks to the bottom and
vaporizes instantly, ejecting a plume of burning liquid wax into the air.

Fires that involve cooking oils or fats are designated "Class K" under the American system, and
"Class F" under the European/Australasian systems. Though such fires are technically a subclass
of the flammable liquid/gas class, the special characteristics of these types of fires are considered
important enough to recognize separately. Saponification can be used to extinguish such fires.
Appropriate fire extinguishers may also have hoods over them that help extinguish the fire.