🔍 Key Concepts

• Cooling vs. smothering as methods of fire extinguishment • How different extinguishing agents remove heat, oxygen, or fuel from the fire triangle • Why heat absorption (specific heat and latent heat of vaporization) matters in cooling a fire

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself which agent can absorb the most heat from the fire area for a given amount applied • Consider which agent actually lowers the temperature of the burning material the most, rather than just covering or displacing oxygen • Think about which agents are mainly used to form a blanket or smother a fire, and which are used primarily to cool it down

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which options work mainly by smothering (forming a blanket over the fuel or displacing oxygen) rather than cooling • Recall which agent changes to steam in a fire and what that does to the fire’s temperature • Before choosing, match each option to its primary extinguishing action: cooling, smothering, or oxygen displacement