Why is extinguish powder used for? (what cases of fire)?

Question

I dont know how they call it in english, I just translated it from dutch (Blus Poeder)

So anyways what is it used for?

Answer 1

Electrical and Chemical fires

Answer 2

if you have an electric fire , water will just make it worse . so you extinguish it by a powder which i'm not familiar with . to coat it and stop wires from touching themselves or their surroundings . the same principle works on chemical fires .