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Fire survives only as long as the chain reaction continues to heat fuel to its ignition point in an oxygen atmosphere.

To stop the fire:

  • Remove the heat
  • remove the fuel
  • remove the oxygen
  • disrupt the chemical reaction

All fire extinguishers do one or more of these. You can do the same using ordinary tools or materials.


If the fire is on a cooking stove, remove the heat. The fire may run out of fuel and stop. Or, you can carefully dump a box of baking soda on it, which smothers the fire. Or, you can place a heavy blanket over the fire to smother it in its own smoke.


In the woods, firefighters often use a "fuel separation" to stop wildfires. You can do the same with a campfire: scrape the surrounding area down to bare soil for twice the distance sparks may be thrown from the fire.


Obviously, any amount of water is going to affect a fire by removing the heat and by wetting the fuel, making it harder to ignite (more heat needed). A simple bucket of water or sand was all the "fire extinguisher" anyone had for thousands of years.

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12y ago

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