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Required Emergency Equipment on a Commercial Truck: Fire Extinguisher and Warning Triangles

Updated September 2026

"Emergency equipment" is one of the eleven items a driver must be satisfied about before driving (49 CFR 392.7), and it is an easy roadside write-up because an inspector can check it in ten seconds. 49 CFR 393.95 says what every truck, truck tractor and bus must carry.

Fire extinguisher

  • Rating: one extinguisher with an Underwriters' Laboratories rating of 5 B:C or more — or two, each rated 4 B:C or more. A truck hauling placarded hazardous materials needs 10 B:C or more.
  • Mounted: "securely mounted to prevent sliding, rolling, or vertical movement relative to the motor vehicle." Rolling around behind the seat does not count, and this is the part that gets written up.
  • Usable: filled, and reachable. The rating is printed on the label — read it before you buy; small household extinguishers are often below 5 B:C.

Warning devices for a stopped vehicle

One of:

  • Three bidirectional emergency reflective triangles meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 125 — what nearly everyone carries; or
  • At least six fusees, with as many more as are needed to meet the placement rule in 392.22.

Carrying them is half of it. 49 CFR 392.22 sets out when and where they go on the road when you are stopped on the travelled portion or the shoulder — read it once with your drivers, because nobody looks it up on the shoulder of a highway.

Spare fuses

Older copies of this section required spare fuses. As published in September 2026, that paragraph no longer appears. If your checklist still lists them, carrying a few does no harm — it just is not in the rule as it stands.

Add it to the pre-trip

  • Extinguisher present, charged, mounted.
  • Triangles present — all three — and not broken.
  • A photo of both once a month answers the question of whether the truck had them.

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This is general information, not legal advice, and RelayPoint is not a law firm or a compliance consultant. Sources: 49 CFR 392.7, 392.22 and 393.95, as published in September 2026. Vehicles towed in driveaway-towaway operations are excepted. States may require additional equipment for in-state operations. Confirm your obligations with the FMCSA or your state's motor carrier authority.