Many people these days are choosing to spend their vacations or even their entire retirement years in an RV, recreational vehicle. They are very popular for those who want to see the whole of the country but not pay for all that plane fare and hotel stays. But while more and more people are using RV’s not many people are considering how to keep that RV safe from accidental fires.Many are started with RV furnace and RV heaters. Whether the RV is very small and basic or large with accessories galore there are still dangers that need to be considered. The good news is that all RV’s generally have very good safety equipment that is designed to keep all its passengers as safe as possible. All RV owners should know what that safety equipment is and how to use is and where to get RV parts if needed.
There are usually four types of fire extinguishers that are common on an RV. The fire extinguisher is assigned a letter, A, B, C, or D. This letter indicates what kind of fire the extinguisher is designed to fight. Although it is not unusual to find ratings for multiple kinds of fires like ABC or BC. Those ratings indicate that the extinguisher can be used to battle several kinds of fires. The extinguishers most common on an RV are those that battle fires caused by combustible liquids like gas, oil, and grease. The most common type of fire on an RV is type A, for fires caused by paper items. But since oil, grease, electrical, and paper items are all a fire danger then it is wise to keep several types of extinguisher on the vehicle.
But just keeping a fire extinguisher on the vehicle is not enough to protect from fires alone. The RV owner must know what the fire extinguishers are for and how to use them for them to be effective at all. Everyone who will be on the RV should be educated about what fire extinguisher to use for what type of fire and how it should be used. Before you start any journey it might be useful to put a small piece of paper that tells exactly what kind of fire it should be used for on the extinguisher. Just labeling the extinguisher with an A, B, C, or D could be confusing and useless in an emergency. But having a label that says specifically grease and oil is much harder to get confused.
Next is learning out to use the extinguisher properly. To remember the steps you need to remember the word PASS. This stands for Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep. First you will the pin located at the top of the extinguisher. Then aim the nozzle at the base of the fire, not the flames themselves, just the base. Next you squeeze the handle while standing about eight feet away from the flames. Lastly you sweep the extinguisher across the fire until it is completely out. Wait and make sure it doesn’t re-ignite. And of course, call for the fire department once everyone is safely away from the fire.
