we have yet to use our trailer tent and are being careful I think a fire blanket is a good precaution but there is nothing to attach it to - am i being a bit over fussy anyway?
It is very easy and relatively cheap to have both extinguisher AND fire blanket. Just find somewhere between your hob and doorway and tie it up with a strong bootlace or something. Anything is better than nothing.
The primary puropse of a fire blanket to to smother small fires especially on your cooking hob.
Fire extinguishers are better for general fire fighting.
The material that is burning is broken up into different classes (A, B, and C. I respectfully suggest that you look this up rather than me go into it here.) There are different types of extinguishers containing diferent extinguishing media dependent on what class of material is burning. e.g Powder for electrical and water for fabrics etc.
The best all round fire extinguisher to have is one containing AFFF (Active Fire Fighting Foam) although powder types are OK.
However, if you have a fire, and are in doubt, just throw anything you have at it!
Common mistakes are:
Small extinguishers: Anything less that 2.5kg is next to useless.
Poor location of extinguisher: The best place is by the door so that you pick it your ON YOUR WAY OUT and use it to fight a rearguard action.
Tendency to want to stay and fight the fire: The first priority is to GET OUT because smoke will get you.
If you can do anything, you should attempt to stop the fire spreading and leave putting the fire out to the experts.
Fires in vans are thankfully quite rare, I hope you are never unfortunate enough to have one. With good servicing a little care and common sense, you probably never will.
In our previous trailer tent we attached our fire blanket pack to the awning front corner post using the tapes to secure/tie on the canvas with. (as johnjory says between hob and doorway)
I have a fire blanket (must get one for the new camper) and extinguisher.
The blanket is primarily there in case a grill pan or fry pan happens to catch alight - one case where you must NEVER throw water on it!
I prefer the extinguisher to be at the "living" end of the trailer, not right by the door (but that's where it's fitted on the Pennine). If you're already at the door you don't need the extinguisher - just get out!
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Topic: fire blanket or extinguisher?
