Question

On arrival at a vehicle collision, you observe a small fire in the engine compartment. A bystander is attempting to smother the fire with a jacket as you approach with an A-B-C extinguisher from your ambulance. Which of the following is the best method of extinguishing the fire?

a. Sweep the nozzle of the extinguisher left and right using short bursts until you are out of extinguishing agent.
b. Aim at the base of the fire and use short bursts until the fire is out.
c. Close the hood to contain the fire within the engine compartment.
d. Aim the nozzle to the side of the fire and, with a sweeping motion, push the fire at its base

Answer 1

Aim at the base of the fire and use short bursts until the fire is out.

Step-by-step explanation:

Fire extinguishers use CO2 (Carbondioxide) as the extinguishing agent. This is because CO2 is denser than air, and does not support combustion.

Aiming at the base of the fire causes the CO2 to fall on the base of the fire, where the source of the fire is, trapping it, and preventing it from further reacting with air in a combustion reaction. Also, the short burst creates a strong wind that forces the flame to blow out.