A recent blog by NFPA staff sheds light on where extinguishers are required to be installed in buildings.
The article is insightful in that NFPA 10, Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers, is the standard for selection, placement, and servicing of extinguishers, but other documents provide requirements for which types of buildings or occupancies to install the extinguishers. NFPA is always promoting its codes and standards, so the article mentions both NFPA 1, Fire Code, and NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, as the basis for requiring extinguishers in most occupancies. The article provides several handy tables that summarize the occupancies each code mandates for extinguisher installations.
One thing the article does not mention is the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Fire Code (IFC), which are used as the basis for most state building codes and fire codes. The IBC and IFC are a bit more stringent and provide a few more occupancies where extinguishers are needed and therefore provide a slightly improved level of safety when compared to NFPA 1 and 101. Although it is interesting to understand how these model codes address extinguisher installation requirements, most states use them as the basis for their fire codes. Your state fire code will be used for enforcement regarding the installation of extinguishers.
Overall, the article does a good job of explaining that NFPA 10 is where you go for the selection, placement, and servicing of extinguishers. The companion documents are NFPA 1 and 101 for specific criteria of which occupancies must have portable fire extinguishers installed in them.
Another thing not mentioned in the article is the comprehensive list of other occupancies that require extinguishers. That list can be found in NFPA 10, at the end of Chapter 5. If your job is to ensure safety in buildings by installing extinguishers, that list of almost 70 codes and standards referencing extinguisher installation requirements is invaluable.
NFPA occasionally focuses on improving safety with portable fire extinguishers. Here are a few more blog articles that provide further insights so that we are all safer in the buildings we occupy, where extinguishers are readily available in the event of a fire.
