A fire extinguisher only earns its keep in the first minute of a fire — and only if it’s the right type, in the right place, in working order. Gemini AMPM supplies, commissions and services kite-marked extinguishers to BS 5306-3, with selection and siting to BS 5306-8, so every unit on your wall is ready for the risk beside it.
Every extinguisher is matched to a class of fire, and a mismatch can make a small incident worse. Water and water mist deal with wood, paper and textiles. Fluorine-free foam covers flammable liquids without the environmental baggage of older agents. CO2 is the choice for live electrical equipment. Wet chemical is the only sensible answer to a deep-fat fryer. Powder throws furthest but fills a room with an unbreathable cloud, so it belongs outdoors or in plant areas. Lithium-ion battery risks now need specialist agents of their own.
BS 5306-8 turns that chemistry into a floor plan: how many units a floor area needs, which ratings, and where they hang so nobody travels more than the maximum distance to reach one. Gemini surveys the building, maps the risks and specifies kite-marked BS EN3 extinguishers against them — not a job lot of red bottles.
BS 5306-3 is the maintenance standard, and it starts on day one: every new extinguisher is commissioned on site by a competent person before it counts as cover. From there the standard requires a basic service every twelve months — pressure checks, tamper indicators, hoses, horns, brackets and signage — plus extended service and discharge testing at the intervals each agent type demands. Miss those dates and your extinguishers stop being evidence of compliance under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Gemini runs this as a planned annual contract. Qualified engineers service each unit, recharge or replace what fails, record everything, and leave a maintenance report your fire risk assessor can lean on. Because the same team handles alarms and emergency lighting, one visit can cover several compliance dates. Book a survey and we’ll price the estate as it actually is.
BS 5306-3 requires a basic service by a competent person every twelve months, covering pressure, condition, tamper seals, hoses and signage. On top of that, most water, foam and powder units need an extended service with discharge and refill at five years, and CO2 extinguishers need overhaul at ten. Between visits, someone on site should check monthly that units are in place, visible and undamaged. A planned contract keeps every one of those dates from slipping.
It depends on floor area, fire classes present and travel distance, which is exactly what BS 5306-8 exists to calculate. As a rule of thumb, most storeys need at least two Class A extinguishers, positioned so nobody walks more than 30 metres to reach one, with specialist units added beside specific risks such as kitchens, server rooms or plant. We survey the building and specify the schedule, so the answer comes from measurement rather than guesswork.
Yes. Extinguishers aren’t tied to their installer, and taking over an existing estate is routine. Our engineers inspect every unit on the first visit, condemn anything unserviceable or past its extended-service date, and bring the rest onto a single planned schedule with proper records. You get one renewal date, one report and one point of contact — and because we also maintain fire alarms, visits can be combined to cut disruption and cost.
A named engineer, not a call centre, comes back within 24 hours. Tell us the building and what you’re dealing with, and we’ll scope it properly.