Fire Extinguisher Compliance Guide

The easiest violation to prevent and one of the most commonly written.

Extinguisher findings are almost never about the extinguisher. They are about the tag, the mounting, or the pallet somebody parked in front of it.

Shop fire safety signage

Travel distance depends on class

The 75-foot figure everyone quotes is the Class A number. NFPA 10 sets different maximums by hazard:

• Class A (ordinary combustibles): 75 feet maximum travel distance
• Class B (flammable liquids): 30 or 50 feet depending on hazard level
• Class K (cooking oils and fats): 30 feet maximum

Travel distance means the actual walking path, not a straight line through walls and racking.

Class K, if you have a commercial kitchen

Cooking appliances using vegetable or animal oils require a Class K extinguisher, and it must be within 30 feet. An ABC dry chemical unit does not satisfy this and can make a grease fire worse. This is a common finding in kitchens that were outfitted with general-purpose extinguishers.

Inspection and maintenance intervals

• Monthly: visual inspection, recorded. NFPA 10 permits electronic monitoring in place of manual monthly checks
• Annually: maintenance by a trained person, with a tag
• Every 6 years: internal examination for most stored-pressure dry chemical units
• Every 12 years: hydrostatic test for most dry chemical units, 5 years for CO2 and water types

What inspectors write up

• Access blocked by storage, carts, or displays
• Missing or expired annual maintenance tag
• No monthly inspection record
• Unmounted units sitting on the floor
• Wrong class for the hazard present
• Pressure gauge outside the operable range, or missing pin and seal
• Extinguisher not visible, and no sign identifying its location

Who enforces this

NFPA 10 is a standard. NFPA issues no citations. Your local fire marshal enforces the edition your jurisdiction adopted, and extinguisher servicing is typically performed by companies licensed at the state level.

Free inspection log

Download the Fire Extinguisher Inspection Log (PDF)

Where signage fits

Extinguisher location identification is the most direct case on this list. If a unit is mounted behind a rack, a sign above it is the difference between finding it in three seconds and not finding it. Keep-clear marking on the floor addresses the blocking problem, which is the finding inspectors write most often.

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