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
Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue Department downtown business district, prompted the city to purchase its first fire equipment consisting of a chemical extinguisher mounted on carriage wheels, and a hand operated pump. Unique to Fort Lauderdale was that the fire department never had horse-drawn apparatus. The chemical extinguisher was pulled to fires by an International Harvester truck, and the pump was pulled to the fire scene by the firefighters themselves. The pump also carried 500 feet of fire hose, which at times was not sufficient to reach fires in the city, due to inadequate roads. The first fire station, the second in Broward County, was built