Fire extinguisher had been developed by DuPont and the US Army in 1954. Both 1211 and 1301 work by inhibiting the chain reaction of the fire, and in the case of Halon 1211, cooling class A fuels as well. Halon is still in use today but is falling out of favor for many uses due to its environmental impact. Europe and Australia have severely restricted its use, since the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Less severe restrictions have been implemented in the United States, the Middle East, and Asia. Internationally there are several accepted classification methods for hand-held fire extinguisher. Each classification is
Cutting extinguisher Svenska AB was founded in 1988. The origins of the company was in water jet cutting but in cooperation with Räddningsverket (today the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)), the coldcut Cobra cutting extinguisher was developed in the mid-1990s with the first commercial cutting extinguisher available in 2000. In 2008, Saab acquired a 27% stake in the company. Local adoption has been enthusiastic. Of the over 750 coldcut Cobra systems delivered so far, about 150 are in Sweden and the same amount in the UK. The Cobra has also been sold to fire services in many other countries including Norway, Denmark,