WUBS seeks donated fire extinguishers. Here are important tips on the different kinds.

SOUTH BEND — Radio station WUBS-FM (89.7) is posing a bold challenge to the community in the wake of Sunday’s fire that claimed the lives of six children: It aims to collect donations of 1,000 new fire extinguishers and then distribute them freely to residents who need them.

“If you can get to the spark, you can stop the flame,” the Rev. Sylvester Williams, the head of WUBS, explained about the effort. "We need to be proactive … to be sure this never happens in this community on our watch."

There are several different kinds and sizes of fire extinguishers. And as a fire prevention chief advised The Tribune, each has special considerations — for example, for older residents and for kitchens, where most fires begin.

“You’ve got to be there to use it,” Gerard Ellis, the South Bend Fire Department’s assistant fire chief of prevention, said. “Knowing how to use them is key.”

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Williams said he’s accepting any kind of fire extinguisher — as long as it’s new.

To distribute them, he said, WUBS will use its roughly 30 partner churches and any other community organization that wants to participate. The extinguishers would go to homes along with pamphlets on preventing and surviving fires. He’s communicating with the South Bend Fire Department on the effort.

And if this campaign doesn’t motivate someone to donate an extinguisher, Williams hopes it at least gets them to place one in their own home.

He recalled how, early on, he didn’t place smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in his ministry’s building until he was educated about them.

Meanwhile, he is calling on everyone to pause for a moment of silence or prayer at noon Sunday to think of the Smith family and the community, explaining that Sunday will mark seven days since the tragedy.

“Everybody has a piece missing," Williams said as the community copes with the deadly fire’s aftermath. “Every one of us has been somehow impacted, traumatized. It’s going to take all of us to put that piece back together.”

Extinguishers can be dropped off at WUBS, 703 Lincoln Way W., from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. If that's not possible, Williams said, donations can also be made to WUBS' "People Helping People" fund at WUBS; he said there would be a donation link at its website wubsradio.com.

Tips for buying fire extinguishers

Fire officials want residents to have fire extinguishers in their homes as a quick initial response to subdue a flame. But, Ellis said, firefighters also don’t want you to be fumbling around with something and losing precious time if a fire is progressing — time that you could use to escape and save lives. Every person’s emotions and reactions in a crisis can be different, he said.

“We stress: Get outside; let us take care of the fire,” Ellis said. “We want to make sure people get outside.”

Ellis showed and gave advice on three kinds of common fire extinguishers:

Standard ABC fire extinguishers

The standard red ABC fire extinguishers have a safety ring that you must pull in order for it to work. This is done as you're responding to a fire. Ellis advises twisting as you pull, which makes it easier to break the plastic seal — especially for older residents.

Also, check on the pressure gauge to be sure it’s properly pressurized. And if you use it once, there may still be some of the extinguishing agent inside of the tank — a powder — but Ellis advises throwing the extinguisher away because it may have lost pressure and be unreliable the next time that you need it.

Even if it’s unused, it’s recommended that you throw away and replace these extinguishers every 10 to 12 years. They can go in the regular trash.

If it’s hanging on the wall, Ellis said, you should take it off of the wall once or twice a year, check the pressure gauge and turn it upside and down to be sure it’s properly mixed.

Small spray-bottle extinguishers

Spray-bottle extinguishers look and operate somewhat like cans of spray paint. And they are lightweight. One brand is Tundra, and they market themselves for an array of situations, from home to campsite.

Ellis recommends these for older folks who’d have a hard time lugging around or operating a five- or 10-pound standard extinguisher. He especially recommends having it in the kitchen. Because it uses a wet agent, it can help extinguish a grease fire without spreading the grease fire. By contrast, a standard extinguisher expels a dry agent with a force that can spread the grease and fire.

Note: There’s a plastic seal over the top. As long as kids don’t have any access to this extinguisher, he suggests taking off that seal before you store it. That way, you’re not wasting time with the seal when a fire breaks out.

Cans that go above the stove

Can extinguishers (one brand is FireStop) look like large cans of tuna. They have a magnet on the top that can cling to the hood of your stove. On the bottom, there’s a wick.

If there’s a stove fire, it will light the wick, and that will trigger the can to release its extinguishing agent. It’s the same kind of agent that commercial kitchens have in their much larger automatic extinguishers.

Ellis says the majority of apartment complexes in South Bend have this in their kitchens, and he recommends having it.

Kitchen fires are the No. 1 cause of local fire calls, he said. If you’re away from the stove and a fire suddenly takes off, these cans can respond. In fact, he said, there’s at least one fire each year when these cans help to save a home.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Safety tips for fire extinguishers as WUBS seeks donations