I love myths.
First we have someone saying use flour -- a product that will burn, and since it's finely ground may explode when exposed to flame.
Now we have "road flares will burn up the O2."
Road flares contain their own oxidizer. That's why they light so easily and burn so intensely.
Ever see one burn? Notice how the flame is shooting out "under pressure?" It's not there is a fan on the other end feeding in oxygen fast enough to make that happen...it's providing it's own oxygen as the potassium perchlorate breaks down.
Any CO2 they produce is going to be minimal compared to the fire already going, so they won't be effective in smothering a chimney fire. In short, they're not going to do jack squat to improve the situation.
That's good to know. I've seen plenty of them burn, but never noticed a flame come "shooting" out of them. More like some kind of giant sparkler to me. I wonder why all the fire departments always recommended using them then? Maybe for the same reason they used to recommend putting butter on a burn; they just didn't know any better. Sounds like a general purpose fire extinguisher would be the best option then.
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