"Do not renounce your wallet and prison," says popular wisdom. In a broader sense, it should be understood as follows: you never foresee what unpleasant, even dangerous, situation you may find yourself in. Therefore, it is better to know in advance how to act in this or that case. For example, a fire started. The first and most natural impulse is to extinguish the flame with water. After all, water, firstly, strongly cools the burning body, and secondly, prevents oxygen from reaching it. Finally, it is almost always at hand. Is it always possible to use water to extinguish a fire?
It is not always possible to extinguish a fire with water. Why is that? For example, if kerosene or gasoline or other similar petroleum product is burning. In this case, extinguishing the fire with water is not only useless, but also harmful! But because all these liquids are lighter than water and, moreover, do not mix with it.
What happens if water is poured onto burning kerosene? He will immediately float upward, continuing to burn. Surely some people had to see newsreels from the Second World War - how fuel burned on the water near sinking ships. Moreover, moving along with the spreading water, the fire will quickly cover new areas. That is, instead of extinguishing, the fire will only intensify. This must be remembered so as not to accidentally aggravate the trouble!
But how, in this case, should the burning kerosene or gasoline be extinguished? With using what? First of all, with special foam compounds that cover the fire, preventing the access of oxygen. In everyday life and at work, foam fire extinguishers with the OHP marking are used for this. In addition, if the area of fire is not very large, ordinary sand or earth can be successfully used to extinguish it. First of all, it is necessary to "shield" the fire center around its perimeter with sand or earth as soon as possible, in order to prevent the burning "streams" from spreading further. And then throw as much bulk material as possible directly into the fire.
If the combustion area is small, you can cover the burning oil product with a large piece of heavy, dense cloth thoroughly moistened with water (so that the material does not catch fire immediately). By shutting off the oxygen supply, the flame should go out almost immediately. This is how the water for extinguishing kerosene can be used. But in no case should you pour it on burning kerosene or gasoline!
