How Many Units of Fire Extinguisher to Use?

Most often this is the question i got, "How Many Units Of Fire Extinguisher Do I Need To Provide In My Office", or Factory, or whatever it is.

Let's not go into the theory first. Neither do i try to be technical.
Let's just look around.  If those people out there have placed the extinguishers in their premises, and they are operating with a legal status, then they must be doing something right.  Or close to right.  Right??

I see most commercial shop lots, say, 30' X 80',  will most likely provide 2 units of 9 kg ABC Powder Portable Fire Extinguisher. Maybe 1 unit in the front and another in the middle or back.
Then, if there is a upper floor office, i notice another unit placed near the main entrance and another unit either in the office or at the pantry or near the wash rooms.

Now, let's see what the Legal Requirement Says.
According to the Malaysian Building By-Law, the correct Malaysian Standards, or The Code Of Practice to follow, is the Malaysian Standards, MS1539 : Part 3 : 2003.
This document is the Specification For Portable Fire Extinguishers - Part 3.
Focusing on Selection And Installation - and it is a Code Of Practice, make sure you refer to the current version, which is the (First Revision), or any later version if any.

Many aspects are explained in very detail in this document.

Among others, i think will give us a simple understanding, are as the following:

a) Extinguisher Spacing

The fire extinguishers must be located such that, you can get to it without having to walk more than 20 meter.



b) Extinguisher Hanging Height

If the fire extinguisher is heavier than 4kg, (which i think most cases are) it must be hang such that the handle is about 1 meter from the floor
This is spelled out in MS1539 : Part 3 : 2003, clause 7.2


c) Calculation According To Floor Space

Since year 2002, Fire Extinguishers are approved by the Fire Brigade according to their capability to kill fire, and we are talking about how big a fire can be killed, or extinguished, if you don't prefer to kill.

  Before this, not much emphasis on this "Size Of Fire Killed thing, or, technically refered to as "Fire Rating", but rather the size, in terms of kg of the fire extinguisher matters more.

The calculation goes like this : if you have a specific floor space, say, 1000 meter square.
Then, the required "Fire Rating" is calculated as, 1000 X 0.065.
So, what we get is, 65A of Fire Rating Required for that space.

Then what is 65A???

To know what this 65A means, and to translate it into number of fire extinguishers, we need to know the rating of each fire extinguisher.  Now, take a look at the fire extinguisher near you, is there any?
Read the label printed on the fire extinguisher body, and you should see somehere printed the Fire Rating. Read the A rating number, maybe you will see something like, 27A/144B.

Now, assuming it is 27A.  Now, the number of fire extinguisher required is : 65A / 27A
... and we should get an answer of 2.41
round it up, it comes to 3 units of Fire Extinguisher.


What i have shared here, is just some basic points, of course there are many-many more things to consider when making provision for fie safety.  Anybody interested to know further, please puchase a copy of the Code from SIRIM for reference.

How To Choose A Fire Extinguisher Contractor or Supplier

Basically, a Contractor or Supplier dealing with Fire Protection Equipment Supply and/or service, shall be registered with Bomba.  The criteria for the registration are:

a) A Registered Company with ROC

Verification documents : Borang 9 : Sijil Pendaftaran Syarikat,
                                     Form 24 : Sijil Pengesahan Modal Di benar dan Modal Berbayar,
                                     Form 49 : Sijil Pengesahan Maklumat Pengarah, Pengurus dan Setiausaha Syarikat
                                     M & A : Memorandum dan Artikel Perbadanan Syarikat

b) Licenced with Local Government, eg. : Lesen Perniagaan MBSJ
c) If using e-perolehan, register with Ministry of Finance, eg.: Sijil Pendaftaran Kementrian Kewangan

If the contractor is providing service and maintenance service for fire extinguishers, then the company shall have a complete set of servicing facilities such as:

a)  powder filling machine,
b) CO2 filling machine,
c) leakage test equipment,
d) valve tightening machine,
e) clamping device and
f) any dedicated tools, as specified by manufacturers
g) appropriate waste disposal

The company shall also have competent qualified technical personnel relevant to the job, operating based on documented standard operating procedures on maintenance and servicing of portable fire extinguishers in compliance with the relevant Code of Practice, using replacement parts and procedures prescribed by hte manufacturers.

Some companies, voluntarily, get their company certified by a third party, such as SIRIM.
At the moment, this third party certification is not mandatory, but i believe later it will be mandatory by law.
This is because the Code of Practice has been gazetted by the government and published as a Malaysian Standards, back in 2004.

Bomba Certificate for Fire Extinguisher

I used to get questions from my friends who wants to know how to apply for Bomba Certificate for fire extinguishers.  They were told that this certificate is required by the local town council to complete their application for business licence.  To abtain this certificate, the premise owner has to purchase Fire Extinguisher which are Certified by SIRIM, Approved by BOMBA and meets the Code of Practise, in terms of size, type and location of installation.  Application to the nearest Balai Bomba has to be made using Borang APA 1, APA 2 & APA 3. with payment.  Upon approval, normally 2 to 3 days, a certificate called H13 and a receipt is issued.  The first copy of H13 is to be paste onto the fire extinguisher body.  Make sure does not obstruct the originl label on the extinguisher body, especially the operating instructions.  The second copy is to be kept for future reference.  Sometimes the local authority requires the receipt as prove of approval, sometime they require the second copy to be submitted together with the business licence application or renewal.

What SIRIM Logo means?

The Building By-Law addresses the legal requirement, TO HAVE,
while the Malaysian Standards, deals with the technical part, ie: type of extinguisher, size, performance, safety, selection, maintenance, quality assurance, etc
Malaysian Standards, are code of practice written by a committee consist of technical experts, authorities, industrialist and even representatives from the public. This document are owned by the Department of Standards Malaysia, (DSM) managed by SIRIM BHD.

The code of practice (COP) are very important documents, as they lay down criterias to be followed, for the purpose of standardization and ensure things are fit for pupose (FFP).

Our fire brigade, The BOMBA, are empowered by the minister to carry out enforcement to ensure the Building by Laws and the Code of Practices are adhered to.

BOMBA, recognized only products which are certified by Certification Bodies, such as SIRIM.

SIRIM, now being a private entity (non governmental body), is in turn monitored and regulated by the DSM.
This process is called "Accreditation".

Products certified by SIRIM, means complies to the COP, are allowed to be marked with SIRIM Logo, therefore, we say that product got SIRIM one.  I recall when i asked for a 3-pin plug, the hardware shop boss asked "you want SIRIM one, or NO SIRIM one". What he meant is whether i want a plug with SIRIM Logo (comes with a SIRIM logo sticker), or one which does not.

Which Law Requires Fire Extinguisher to be equipped?

It is the Uniform Building by-Law of Malaysia which requires Fire Protection Systems to be equipped in specific places according to specific guidelines.  This book can be obtained from most Law Book Stores, including Popular Book Store.

Most people wants to know whether private homes and private vehicles needs fire extinguisher by law.
The answer is No, Not Yet, at the moment.  Maybe later the government may like to consider some minimum requirements for homes, in terms of active fire protection.

Changing Fire Extinguisher Colour From Blue To Red

I started working for a fire extinguisher manufacturer since i graduated from local U, back in 1993.
Then, fire extinguishers were mainly blue in colour, of course some are black, some are red and some are pale cream in colour.  In was very interesting though, with all the different colours.  However, some will say that it is confusing, and just can't figure out which one is for what.
Then came the new regulations to unify everything to red colour, some call it fire red, some call it signal red, but the industry standard is RAL3000 red, according to the RAL colour chart.
RAL is a collection of 40 colors invented by the German Reichsausschuß für Lieferbedingungen und Gütesicherung" (State Commission for Delivery Terms and Quality Assurance) for reference.
To learn more about RAL : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAL_(color_space_system)

I was told by some industrial seniors that all extinguishers were red, before they were changed to blue (and other colours, of course).  So, we had RED, then BLUE, then RED again now.

Who needs fire extinguisher and why?

History has shown that fire, although keeps life going (at least for cooking), it can also destroy, when out of control. Almost anything burns, some into charcoal, some into dust, some even leaves nothing behind.
Historically, anything that helps to put a fire under control can be called a fire extinguisher, a pail of water, a branch of leaves, a bare stick, even a blow of air from someone's mouth.  However, in modern terms, a fire extinguisher means more than that, it has to meet many-many expectations and challenges, light enough to carry, controls a large fire, can withstand tortorous conditions, cheap and good, easy to use, etc-etc.

If you have nothing around you that burns, or if it does, but does not matters you, then maybe you don't need one.  But if that is not the case, then probably you need one.  Well, you can also make your own fire extinguisher cheap and good.  Keep a pail of water handy in the kitchen or your garden is a basic thing to do.  Make sure free from mosquito baby! Keep a thick blanket near your bed, maybe can be used to cover and suffocate a bed-side flame.

why i blog this?

Hi everybody. This is my first posting.
Hope my future postings can bring some benefit to the public in terms of fire prevention and fire safety awareness and knowledge.  I was and am still in the fire safety industry. I learned a lot in the past from the industry gurus, and i'd like to put them for discussion. I observed the fire safety awareness of general Malaysians are progressing but slowly, there are plenty of room for expansion.