Submitted by the staff of the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH)
Orillia has experienced a fair share of public fires throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, but the question remains: How did residents combat small fires in the home?
Prior to the invention of the fire extinguisher, citizens were armed with a bucket of water and a bit of hope.
The first patented portable fire extinguisher was developed in 1819 by George Manby, of England. The device consisted of a sealed copper canister designed to hold compressed air and a potassium carbonate (potash) solution.
Prior to this invention, many fire extinguishers simply sprayed ordinary water onto a fire. Manby’s revolutionary device set a standard for fire suppression for the next 100 years.
In 1910, the Pyrene Company Ltd. invented a small and reusable fire extinguisher. The device, like the one pictured above, is a brass container with a hand pump that holds one quart of carbon tetrachloride (CTC). Advertising for the extinguisher boasted that “even children have put out fires with Pyrene,” making the device easy and accessible for those who needed it most.
At the time, CTC was considered a suitable solution for liquid and electrical fires, making the extinguisher ideal for use in cars. The solution works by displacing oxygen when in contact with fire. However, CTC fumes are highly toxic, and its use is considered more dangerous than the fire itself. These extinguishers were soon withdrawn from public use around 1950 because of the chemical’s hazards, and unexpected deaths.
Although Pyrene is considered unsafe by today’s standards, the device revolutionized at home fire prevention. Pyrene revolutionized at-home fire prevention and became the catalyst for safer fire-extinguishing chemicals. Although CTC is no longer used, the fire extinguisher device is thanks to Pyrene.
Next week, we will feature another object from the OMAH collection that showcases our local history.
