Everyone should have a chance to use a fire extinguisher on a real fire. The trouble with this idea is that the annual discharge of fire extinguishers is expensive, training fires can be problematic, and the discharge from the extinguishers can leave a big mess.
I had the chance recently to undergo annual training with a new controlled fire training system made by BullEx. I’ll admit to being skeptical at first. It seemed awfully contrived and … safe. But watching the tenderfoot office staff line up with their backup buddies to use pressurized water to put down a controlled and “adjustable” fire, I finally came around and had to agree that the system has considerable merit. For us, the system pays for itself in 1 year of training in terms of retiring dry chemical recharge costs.
Most would agree that a fire extinguisher is fairly simple to use. What seems to be the hard part for many is overcoming the uncertainty about whether they should use the extinguisher and under what circumstances. While the simulator does not produce smoke, obnoxious fumes, and there is no dust cloud from a dry chemical extinguisher discharge, the system does a good job of building confidence in people who may be a bit timid.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Fire extinguishers are Officially placed at the periphery of an area. If you are at the edge you can leave. Real world placement is primarily at the core, to facilitate getting out. An employer has higher-paid employees than you to diddle infrastructure replacement.
Pull the pin before you squeeze. All the training in the world cannot get past a crimped pin. Aim at the base, along the air inflow, and DUCK! before squeezing. Blow-in gives blow-back. Water expands to 2000X as much steam, CO2 becomes CO. TANSTAAFL.
Crawl on your belly. 1000 C air does not glow until your head enters the cloud.
Fire extinguisher training at my undergrad institution was mandatory for all new summer researchers and took place in the courtyard outside the chemistry building. A 1-L bottle of benzene was emptied into a wide, heavy metal bowl and a lit match dropped into it. A student would then run up and put the fire out with an extinguisher. The process was repeated for every student. How we managed to not spray burning benzene all over the place, I do not know. Not sure if they still do it this way (this was in the mid-90s).
Your fun link for the day. This article portends something..although I’m not exactly sure what! It certainly fills in alot of unexplained events in my life.
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/5479/seeing-with-your-skin.html
At least your training has flames. My old employer was going to a video based system. Seriously. To me, such a system would endanger lives rather by building overconfidence. “Sure it’s easy. You just do what they tell you.”
A real fire has heat, a chemical fire has more heat and fumes and … WIth good training, you realize that at best, you have one shot to do the job, and then you get away. There is no confidence or cockiness, only respect and fear.
For most employees, the fire extunguisher is there to help them get to an exit. Whether there is merit to the use of a fire extinguisher depends on the circumstances and the judgement of the persons on the scene. You don’t want to encourage people to endanger their lives, but you don’t want the facility to burn down because somebody was afraid to extinguish a burning trash can either.