In one-on-one combat, is there any advantage in spraying your oppenent with a fire extinguisher (if you have one handy)?
My thinking is that there may be:
[ul]
[li]Temporary blindness from all the vapor[/li][li]Temporary asphyxiation from all the CO2[/li][li]Temporary skin damage from chemical burns[/li][/ul]
but that these would be so miniscule as to not be worthwhile.
Anybody have any insight?
The powder in the canisters is a pretty strong eye irritant. So your opponent would have red, teary eyes, and there’d be a big cloud of vapor/powder around him.
If it’s like other compressed gases being released quickly (CPU dust-off, shaving cream), it would also likely be sub-zero in temperature near the nozzle. I supposed you could give them frost bite too.
Once it’s drained, it’s also lighter; making it easier to swing like a baseball bat at your already blinded opponent.
If you are talking dry chemical. If the attacker is breathing in as you spray and they got a face full, it would be very hard on them, and also put their liver in danger. Also would be damaging to the eyes.
If you are talking about CO2. If the handel is held down the nozzel will be putting out a cloud of cold CO2, dry ice particles, and ice, if that is breathed into the lungs it would do some damage. I do not think you could Temporary asphyxiation from all the CO2, the cloud would disipate to fast. Also if the ice, and dry ice particles got into the eyes they could do major dammage.
Also note that a dry chemical extinguisher cannot be turned on and off like a CO2. So if you’re able to disable your attacker with the dust, you then have to figure out what to do with the rapidly exhausting cannister. That dust will fill a small room fast.
Maybe you could just hit your attacker with it.
???
It has been a long time since I used an extinguisher, but I don’t recall any dry chemical extinguishers that would simply squirt until they were empty, with no regard for the valve.
In training we were always told that one should never “test” one because the powder would get in the valve seals and make it leaky, but that doesn’t mean that the valve wouldn’t effectively shut off the flow of powder when you released the handle.
I have never seen that situation - every time I’ve used a dry chemical extinguisher, I could easily give it short blasts to hit hot spots. Are you perhaps thinking of a similar or different type of extinguisher?
Perhaps. I recall having a dry chemical extinguisher some twenty-five years ago. I’d never seen one, so I pulled the pin and gave it a squirt.
Once I squeezed that handle there was no going back. (This was backstage in a high school auditorium about two hours before curtain. It spewed for about twenty seconds before I finally jammed the nozzle into the palm of my hand and ran outside with it. By that timethere was grit all over the stage and a thin cloud was wafting out into the house. We had to open every door in the building - in February - to air it all out before the show.)
If it is a water extinguisher, it will very effectively get your opponent wet.
It’s a heavy blunt instrument with a convenient and solidly attached handle. Why would you want to discharge it in your opponent’s eyes ? Doesn’t that strike you as needlessly complicated ?
Not to me. An alert, seeing opponent would have a pretty good chance of ducking or deflecting a blunt-instrument strike from it, whereas a blinded (at least partially) and distracted opponent would be a much easier target.
What?? If you want to turn it off just let go of the handle.
I was sprayed directly in the face with a dry chemical extinguisher at a metal concert years ago. There were about 50-70 of us charging at some security guards chanting, DIE! DIE! DIE! It worked effectively. We scattered and calmed down. We were not gonna do anything, just amped a bit from music and drugs and didn’t want them putting out our fires in the lawn section of the amphitheater. We did keep our fires.
My eyes tasted like matches for about a half hour.
It stung and was more of a shock than anything.
No lasting ill effects and I was for real sprayed directly in the face from less than 8 feet. The rest of the extinguisher emptied in my general area. Some coughing and a bit if disorientation.
I would say it is a great weapon for a brief shock. After the first second the person will protect themselves or turn away. Depending on if it gets directly in the eyes they can regain composure quickly. If I knew it was coming I think I would just charge and disarm the person with an extinguisher now that I know what to expect. Close my eyes or cover them. If you miss a direct shot to the eyeball it is kinda useless on an attacker that is not easily deterred.
I can think of a lot more effective weapons. I’ve recharged them for more than 25 years and have had more experiences than I care to admit of a sudden face full of dry chemical powder. It’s unpleasant, BC more so than ABC, but it’s not going to have much effect on someone in fighting mode. Dry nitrogen is used as the expellant, so there isn’t a freezing issue.
A properly serviced extinguisher should shut off when you let up on the handles, but if the spring is broken or it hasn’t been serviced for awhile the valve stem may not close off the flow.
I can recall one instance of an individual that used a 10 lb. extinguisher as a swinging weapon and did manage to break the teachers leg with it.
CO2 is a different bird and I’ve learned to be more cautious around it when I have to discharge a lot at once. I use a spring clamp to depress the handle and vacate the area for awhile. I have experienced lightheadedness and elevated heartbeats from it in the past, even in outdoor environments where the visible vapor is close to the ground.