scope:

The provisions of this standard apply to the selection, installation, inspection, maintenance, and testing of portable extinguishing equipment. The requirements given herein are minimum. Portable fire extinguishers are intended as a first line of defense to cope with fires of limited size. They are needed even if the property is equipped with automatic sprinklers, standpipe and hose, or other fixed protection equipment (see 4.3.2, 5.1.1, 5.2.1, and 5.2.3). They do not apply to permanently installed systems for fire extinguishment, even where portions of such systems are portable (such as hose and nozzles attached to a fixed supply of extinguishing agent).