Op is juggling cash to make payroll. Crushing insolvency can be far more expensive than lawyers.
And swinging round Home Depot to pick up some buckets in the event of a fire is cheaper than funding a fire department, but it's not really the right tool for the job.
I’ve seen more than a couple stripe disputes resolved here. If the problem isn’t urgent, which it somehow seems to not be, this is a fine step.
Using a fire extinguisher on a small flame before it grows in to needing the fire department seems like a reasonable approach.
Still, one should still call the firefighters _before_ using the extinguisher.
If the extinguisher did not work, and you tried 5min, these 5min are lost.