Water fog applicator
Identifies a water fog applicator.
Understanding this sign
Red square or rectangular signs identify fire equipment and manual alarm points.
Finding equipment does not mean it is suitable or safe to use. Follow your training and the site emergency procedure.
Fog, Not Jet: What F011 Points To
F011 identifies the stowage of a water fog applicator — a nozzle or lance that breaks a hose stream into a fine spray rather than a solid jet. The fine droplets present enormous surface area to the fire, absorbing heat rapidly, converting to steam that dilutes oxygen at the flame, and shielding the operator from radiant heat behind a curtain of spray. Long-pattern fog applicators on a bent lance also let a firefighter project spray over or around obstructions, or through an opening into a compartment, without fully entering it.
The distinction from a straight jet is the whole point of the sign. On an oil or fuel fire, a solid stream drives into the liquid and scatters it while burning; a fog pattern cools and controls the surface without that violence. Marking where the fog attachment lives tells the responder that the option exists at that fire station.
Machinery Spaces and the Marine Heritage
Like the rest of the F008-F015 group, this symbol reached ISO 7010 from maritime signage, and the ship's engine room is its archetypal setting. Machinery space fires usually involve diesel oil, lubricating oil, or hydraulic fluid around hot surfaces, in a confined and congested compartment — conditions where fog applicators earn their keep. Vessels commonly stow fog applicator lances at machinery space fire stations alongside hoses and nozzles, and crew fire training drills their use for boundary cooling and compartment attack.
The applicator also protects the approach. A crew member advancing on a flaming fuel leak can hold the spray pattern between themselves and the fire as a moving heat shield, and fog played onto bulkheads and casings cools boundaries to stop spread into adjacent spaces — tasks a jet nozzle does poorly or dangerously in the same setting. The bent-lance long applicator adds one more trick: introducing spray into a burning compartment through a partly opened door or fan casing while the operator stays outside.
Using and Placing the F011 Sign
Fix F011 at the exact stowage of the applicator — the bracket, rack, or locker where the lance and its nozzle are kept — normally within a fire station already marked for hose and hydrant. Because a fog applicator without a charged hose line is useless, siting the equipment and its sign at the hose station rather than in a distant store is itself the placement decision that matters most.
Ashore, the same symbol suits industrial fire points serving generator halls, boiler rooms, hydraulic power units, and similar oil-around-heat environments where trained employees or works fire teams would attack a fire with water spray. On fire control plans, the F011 symbol lets a shoreside brigade or ship's boarding party read the equipment layout before reaching the compartment.
Where you will see F011
The ship's engine room is its archetypal setting: vessels stow fog applicator lances at machinery space fire stations alongside hoses and nozzles, for attacking diesel, lubricating oil, and hydraulic fluid fires and cooling compartment boundaries. Ashore the same symbol suits industrial fire points serving generator halls, boiler rooms, and hydraulic power units, fixed at the exact bracket, rack, or locker within a marked hose station.
Common questions about F011
What is a water fog applicator?
A nozzle or lance attachment that turns a hose stream into a fine water spray. The droplets absorb heat quickly, generate steam that smothers flame, and form a protective screen for the operator, making fog effective on oil fires and for cooling in confined spaces where a straight jet would be dangerous.
Why not use a water jet on an oil fire?
A solid jet plunges into the burning liquid and throws it outward, spreading the fire and risking a violent steam reaction. A fog pattern instead cools the surface and the flame zone gently, controls vapor, and keeps the operator behind a heat-absorbing spray, which is why fog applicators are stationed where oil fires are the expected scenario.
Where is the F011 sign used?
Mostly at shipboard fire stations serving machinery spaces, where fog applicator lances are stowed with hoses, and on the vessel's fire control plan. Shore facilities with engine halls, boiler plants, or hydraulic systems use it the same way at fire points equipped with spray-capable branches.
What is the difference between F011 and the F010 foam applicator sign?
F011 marks a water fog applicator, which needs only the ship's or site's water supply; F010 marks a portable foam applicator unit, which additionally requires foam concentrate and an inductor. Fog cools and controls, while foam blankets a liquid fuel surface — many fire stations stow both, each under its own sign.
Reference details
| Symbol code | F011 |
|---|---|
| Sign family | ISO Fire Equipment Signs |
| Standard reference | ISO 7010:2019 / ISO 3864-1 ISO Online Browsing Platform: F011 |
| Screen color reference | #FF0000. Screen colors are not a production color specification. |
| Download formats | SVG reference artwork; a 1024 × 1024 pixel PNG conversion on a white canvas. |
| Record date | · How to interpret our dates |
| Page updated |
Choosing a physical sign size
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Sources and artwork credits
- Artwork source
- Wikimedia Commons file page
- Creator credited by source
- Clemenspool
- License
- CC0
- Source metadata checked
SVG files are local reference copies. PNG files are raster conversions. Check the linked file history and license terms before reuse; a source-metadata check is not certification of the artwork or a workplace installation.
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