Whenever there is a fire in your vicinity, whether at home or office or in your neighbourhood, your first instinct is to throw water to extinguish the fire. From the ancient times, before the different fire extinguishing materials came up, water has been the most common item used to put out fire caught on a thing or a person. Even now, despite the different equipments that are available in the market, water fire extinguishers are the most common extinguishers seen in most homes and commercial buildings.

It is true that water fire extinguishers are ideal for homes where there are no chances of a huge fire breakout from chemicals, in which case you might need other, more specialised fire extinguishers like foam, CO2, wet chemical or other specialist foam extinguishers. Water fire extinguishers are in fact the most basic and ideal extinguisher for a home with ideal weight and height, that can be easily installed and used by all the members of a house. They are made for extinguishing Class A fire that occurs from paper, wood, cloth, etc.

In private homes, fire in the kitchen or clothes is the most common ones to occur and water extinguishers are just right for these. Operating these extinguishers is also quite simple, where you need to pull the trigger after aiming the tube-nozzle of the equipment towards the fire. Water would be sprayed out in high force towards the area on fire and soon extinguish the fire with minimum risk to the area and the person using the extinguisher. Water fire extinguishers can help a great deal in certain business too such as retail stores, offices, schools, clothing shops, etc. where the chances of a huge fire due to explosions and chemicals are less.

Even though water fire extinguishers are common and easy to use, not every fire can be extinguished with them. For example, if the fire involves electrical items, spraying water on them can create electrocution with severe danger to the people around. As mentioned earlier, water fire extinguishers are ideal for Class A fire. For the other types of fire using them can be dangerous and in fact quite fatal too, if you don't find better replacement soon.

While purchasing water fire extinguishers, it is important you realise when and where they should be used, or in other words, for what type of fire from which source can they be used. You should check the quality of the product and whether it has the approval from the safety authorities in your locality. Finally, if you find the fire increasing in size and intensity, you should immediately call the fire department instead of trying your luck further with the smaller water fire extinguishers.