Extinguisher type · Green band
Green fire extinguisher: Clean agent (green)
First: raise the alarm, get out, call the fire service
UK: However, if in doubt, employees should not put themselves or anyone else at risk, but simply raise the alarm, leave the premises, and call the fire and rescue service.
HM Government (GOV.UK), A guide to making your small non-domestic premises safe from fire (accessible version), section ‘Fire extinguishers’
US: If you're unsure about whether it is safe to use a fire extinguisher, and for all other situations, alert others, leave the building, and call 911 from a mobile or neighbor's phone.
US Fire Administration (FEMA), Choosing and Using Fire Extinguishers, ‘Help people decide when to use a fire extinguisher’
Green band on a red body. Green covers clean agents, older halon and vaporising-liquid extinguishers, and the newer green-coded ones sold for small lithium-ion battery fires.
- Colour code
Clean agent (including halons) GREEN
London Fire Brigade (London Fire Commissioner), Fire Safety Guidance Note GN08: Hand Held Portable Firefighting Equipment, Rev 20, §4.3, colour table- UK/EU classes named for it
- Class A
What the guidance says it is for
Further innovations are extinguishers with a green colour coding. These can be uses for small Lithium-ion battery fires and whilst suitable for Class A fires, they are more effective than standard extinguishers. These extinguishers contain clean agent gases or wet chemical solutions, minimising damage to sensitive equipment or valuable assets.
London Fire Brigade (London Fire Commissioner), Fire Safety Guidance Note GN08: Hand Held Portable Firefighting Equipment, Rev 20, §3.5(Vaporising Liquid Extinguishers were coloured green and may still be found in certain applications).
London Fire Brigade (London Fire Commissioner), Fire Safety Guidance Note GN08: Hand Held Portable Firefighting Equipment, Rev 20, §4.3
What the guidance says not to use it on
The guidance on this page gives no list of fires a green-coded extinguisher must not be used on. Because the green code covers different agents (clean agent gas, halon, some wet chemical solutions), the classes a particular one is rated for are the ones printed on its own label.
In the US
US extinguishers are not colour-coded by agent; read the letters on the label.
Larger models of these fire extinguishers are listed for Class A as well as Class B and Class C fires, which makes them quite suitable for use on fires in electronic equipment.
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Fire Extinguisher Types (NFPA Today blog, Brian O’Connor), ‘Halon Alternative Clean Agents’It is important to note that the production of Halon has been phased out because of the environmental damage it causes to the earth’s ozone.
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Fire Extinguisher Types (NFPA Today blog, Brian O’Connor), ‘Halon’
Also worth knowing
Halon extinguishers are not shown since no new Halon production is permitted in the UK.
HM Government (GOV.UK), Fire safety risk assessment: offices and shops (accessible version), Part 1, 3.4.2, under Figure 8
The label is the authority
Most modern fire extinguishers are simple to use and instructions on how to use it safely are written on the extinguisher itself.
HM Government (GOV.UK), A guide to making your small non-domestic premises safe from fire (accessible version), section ‘Fire extinguishers’
Other colours
Sources
Official guidance only: UK government, UK fire and rescue services, the Fire Industry Association, NFPA, OSHA and the US Fire Administration. Words in quotation marks are theirs.
- HM Government (GOV.UK): A guide to making your small non-domestic premises safe from fire (accessible version) (updated 20 January 2025). Quoted here: section ‘Fire extinguishers’. www.gov.uk Checked 2026-09-29.
- US Fire Administration (FEMA): Choosing and Using Fire Extinguishers (page last reviewed 1 April 2023). Quoted here: ‘Help people decide when to use a fire extinguisher’. www.usfa.fema.gov Checked 2026-09-29.
- London Fire Brigade (London Fire Commissioner): Fire Safety Guidance Note GN08: Hand Held Portable Firefighting Equipment, Rev 20 (January 2025). Quoted here: §4.3, colour table; §3.5; §4.3. www.london-fire.gov.uk Checked 2026-09-29.
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): Fire Extinguisher Types (NFPA Today blog, Brian O’Connor) (2023). Quoted here: ‘Halon Alternative Clean Agents’; ‘Halon’. www.nfpa.org Checked 2026-09-29.
- HM Government (GOV.UK): Fire safety risk assessment: offices and shops (accessible version) (updated 12 September 2023). Quoted here: Part 1, 3.4.2, under Figure 8. www.gov.uk Checked 2026-09-29.