How Come Firefighters Use Water?

Question

I know there are certain types of fires that, if one uses water on it, will get worse. But as far as I know, firefighters use water tanks and fire hydrants for virtually every fire too large for a fire extinguisher to do the job.

Is it an issue of if the source isn’t large enough or too far away it doesn’t matter? How do they know the kind of fire before reacting to it?

In: 2

Answer 1

i don’t think there are different types of fire, rather different sources of fire. if an oil fire starts in your pan it would be bad to throw water on the pan with oil in it, but once the fire leaves the oil and is burning your wooden walls there’s nothing unique about it and it can be extinguished with water.