Carbon Dioxide Fire Extinguishers

Carbon dioxide fire extinguishers were originally developed to deal with liquid fires such as burning petrol. The inert CO2 gas excludes oxygen from the surface of the liquid fire and stops the fire.

These days carbon dioxide fire extinguishers are mainly used on electrical fires in modern offices, as the CO2 does not leave any residue and does not damage computers, although the cold temperature and the electrostatic shock from the CO2 gas can damage very sensitive electronic equipment.