Fire extinguisher types and the classes of fire
The Philippine Fire Code defines five classes of fire and says which extinguisher types may be chosen for four of them. This page quotes it, with the section and page for every rule.
Written for the Philippines. Quoted from the 2019 Revised IRR of RA 9514, the Fire Code.
Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page of the IRR. Quoted wording is the IRR's own. Where this site explains something, it says so.
The five classes of fire in the Fire Code
Each letter as Rule 3 of the IRR defines it (Rule 3, Definition of Terms, page 5). Class K is defined there; the extinguisher section lists only A to D.
- Wood, cloth, rubber, plastics
- Fires involving ordinary combustible materials such as wood, cloth, rubber and plastics.
- Flammable liquids and gases
- Fires involving flammable liquids and gases.
- Energized electrical equipment
- Fires involving energized electrical equipment.
- Combustible metals
- Fires involving combustible materials, such as sodium, magnesium, potassium, and other similar materials.
- Cooking oils and fats
- Fires in cooking appliances that involve combustible cooking media (vegetable or animal oils and fats).
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
Which extinguisher for which fire
The second column is Rule 3's definition of each class. The third is the list Section 10.2.6.9 F.2 says an extinguisher "shall be selected from" for that class.
| Class | What is burning | Extinguisher types the Fire Code allows | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class A | Fires involving ordinary combustible materials such as wood, cloth, rubber and plastics. | Water type; Multipurpose dry chemical type; Wet chemical type | Section 10.2.6.9 F.2.a, page 68 |
| Class B | Fires involving flammable liquids and gases. | AFFF; FFFP foam; Carbon dioxide; Dry chemical type | Section 10.2.6.9 F.2.b, page 68 |
| Class C | Fires involving energized electrical equipment. | Types that are specifically listed for use on Class C hazards | Section 10.2.6.9 F.2.c, page 68 |
| Class D | Fires involving combustible materials, such as sodium, magnesium, potassium, and other similar materials. | Types approved for use on the specific combustible-metal hazard | Section 10.2.6.9 F.2.d, page 68 |
| Class K | Fires in cooking appliances that involve combustible cooking media (vegetable or animal oils and fats). | None named. The extinguisher section lists four classes, A to D, and names no type for Class K. | Rule 3, Definition of Terms, page 5 |
Two things in that table are easy to misread. Wet chemical is listed under Class A, and not under the cooking-oil class, because Class K has no list at all. And AFFF and FFFP are both foam types: the IRR spells them out elsewhere as Aqueous Film Forming Foam and Film Forming Fluoro-Protein (Section 10.2.6.9 E.13, page 68).
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
Four extinguisher classes, five fire classes
Section 10.2.6.9 D.2 classifies extinguishers (Section 10.2.6.9 D.2, page 67). Its list, in full:
- Class A: fires involving ordinary combustible solid materials
- Class B: fires involving flammable and combustible liquid and gas
- Class C: fires involving energized electrical equipment
- Class D: fires involving combustible metal fires
There is no Class K in it. The IRR does not explain the gap, and this page does not fill it. What it does say about cooking is a separate rule: cooking equipment is to be protected by an automatic kitchen hood fire suppression system, with exceptions that include small restaurants and food stalls (Section 10.2.7.1 C, page 71).
Electrical fires, and electronics
"Fire extinguishers with Class C ratings shall be required where energized electrical equipment can be encountered that would require a non-conducting extinguishing medium. This requirement includes situations where fire either directly involves or surrounds electrical equipment. Since the fire itself is a Class A or Class B hazard, the fire extinguishers shall be sized and located on the basis of the anticipated Class A or Class B hazard."
Section 10.2.6.9 G.2.d, page 70
In other words, the C is about the extinguishing agent not conducting electricity. The size of the extinguisher is still worked out from the thing that is burning.
For computers and similar equipment there is a narrower rule:
"Fire extinguishers for the protection of delicate electronic equipment shall be selected from either a carbon dioxide type or a halogenated agent type."
Section 10.2.6.9 F.3.c, page 69
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
How to read the label
An extinguisher's class is printed on it as letters, with a number in front of some:
"The classification of fire extinguishers shall consist of a letter that indicates the class of fire on which a fire extinguisher has been found to be effective, preceded by a rating number (applicable to Class A and Class B only) that indicates the relative extinguishing effectiveness. Fire extinguishers classified for use on Class C and Class D hazards shall not be required to have a number preceding the classification letter."
Section 10.2.6.9 E.1, page 67
The IRR's own example of a unit rated for three classes is 2-A: 20-B: C. Read with the rule above, that is a Class A rating of 2, a Class B rating of 20, and Class C with no number, and the IRR says a unit like that "can be considered to satisfy the requirements of each letter class" (Section 10.2.6.9 G.1.e, page 69).
Every extinguisher made or sold in the Philippines must also be labelled with the following (Section 10.5.3.2 B, page 326):
- Name, address, and contact details of the manufacturer and/or dealer
- Date of original filling of the container
- Chemical contents. The extinguishing agent shall be identified both under the common name and the chemical formula.
- Whether or not useful for Class A, B, C, or D fires
- Numerical rating of the extinguisher
- Opening instructions
- Safety procedure in usage
And the cylinder itself:
"Containers (tanks or cylinders) shall have permanent markings (stamped, pressed or embossed) that identify its manufacturer (e.g., logo or initials or abbreviation or symbols), date of manufacture/fabrication, lot number and applicable standards (e.g., ASME, ANSI, ASTM, etc.) or patent registration in case of original invention."
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
The Fire Code has no colour code
Nothing in the 2019 IRR assigns a colour to an extinguisher type. It identifies an extinguisher by its label: the class letters and rating number, and the chemical contents under their common name and formula. The only colour rule this site found in it for fire signage is for NO SMOKING signs, "preferably with white-colored letters upon a red background" (Section 10.5.2.2, page 325).
Search fire extinguisher color code from the Philippines and most of what comes back is written for somewhere else. On 30 September 2026, four of the seven ordinary results were British or Australian guides to their own countries' colour schemes, and most of the summary above them was drawn from British pages. The two Philippine results were a BFP regional office Facebook post and a housing developer's article.
Those schemes belong to the countries whose standards set them. A cylinder bought here is not required by the Fire Code to follow any of them, so its colour is not something you can read a class from. Read the letters on the label.
The last two paragraphs are this site's reading. The BFP did not write them. The IRR does not mention colour schemes at all, and that absence is the fact this section rests on.
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
Types that are obsolete or banned
Two lists, and they are not the same list. The first is about buildings:
The following types of fire extinguishers are considered obsolete and shall be removed from service:
- soda acid
- chemical foam (excluding film-forming agents)
- vaporizing liquid (e.g., carbon tetrachloride)
- cartridge-operated water
- cartridge-operated loaded stream
- copper or brass shell (excluding pump tanks) joined by soft solder or rivets
Section 10.2.6.9 E.4, page 67
The second is about shops and manufacturers:
The following types of fire extinguishers and/or extinguishing agents are prohibited for manufacture or sale:
- All inverting types which require inversion of the extinguisher before its operation
- Soda-acid extinguishers
- Stored pressure or cartridge-operated foam solution, water or loaded stream
- Vaporizing liquids (e.g., carbon tetrachloride)
- Thermal special hazards single station extinguishers with extinguishing capability of less than four and a half cubic meters (4.5 m3)
- Fire extinguishers containing Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) in accordance with the phase out schedule by DENR
- Other types which may be prohibited and banned hereinafter by proper authorities
Section 10.5.3.4, pages 326 and 327
The IRR defines an ozone depleting substance as "Any group of halogenated hydrocarbon chemicals which photochemically reacts in the stratosphere in a way which destroys the ozone layer." (Rule 3, Definition of Terms, page 11). It also allows a halogenated agent type for delicate electronic equipment, in the section above. It does not list which halogenated agents fall under the DENR phase-out schedule, and this site has not read that schedule, so neither is named here.
Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 30 September 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.
At home
"Each single and two-family dwelling shall be provided with portable fire extinguishers in accordance with Section 10.2.6.9 of this RIRR."
Section 10.2.14.6 F, page 116
So a house is covered by the same section as every other building. How often the extinguisher is checked, what the service tag must say and how high it is mounted are on the next page.