Firefighters in Chicago wearing rubber three-quarter boots and jacket Firefighters in Montreal in full turnout gear during a fire Bunker gear (also known as turnout gear, fire kit and incident gear) is the

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elect ...

(PPE) used by

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s. The term is derived from the fact that the trousers and boots are traditionally kept by the firefighters bunk at the

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

to be readily available for use.

History

left, Toolbelt with gloves and tools The modern

firefighter's helmet For centuries, firefighters have worn helmets to protect them from heat, cinders and falling objects. Although the shape of most fire helmets has changed little over the years, their composition has evolved from traditional leather to metals (i ...

was developed in 1830 by luggage maker Henry Gratacap, a volunteer firefighter in New York City. This helmet is recognizable today as the "New York" style of helmet, and has retained the same basic shape. The helmet had a brimmed front to affix a leather shield, usually adorned with a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

name and number. It featured eight rib sections on the dome for added rigidity and a long rear brim that channeled water away from the wearer's neck. The combination of modern triple-layer turnout gear with

self-contained breathing apparatus A self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) is a respirator worn to provide an autonomous supply of breathable gas in an atmosphere that is immediately dangerous to life or health from a gas cylinder. They are typically used in firefighting a ...

(SCBA),

personal alert safety system Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...

(PASS) device, and modern communications equipment is intended to provide protection against smoke, heat, water,

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

flashover A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated, they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flashover occurs wh ...

s, and even direct flame for a short time. Modern turnout jackets and pants are made of

fire-retardant fabric Fire-retardant fabrics refer to the type of textiles that are designed to resist ignition and also slow the spread of fire, this can be taken advantage of when designing fabrics as it improves the safety factor in a multitude of applications. Th ...

s, mainly

aramids Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in marine cordage, ma ...

such as

Nomex Nomex is a trademarked term for an inherently flame-resistant fabric with meta-aramid chemistry widely used for industrial applications and fire protection equipment. It was developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967. ...

and

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

polybenzimidazole Polybenzimidazole (PBI, short for poly

,2’-(''m''-phenylen)-5,5’-bisbenzimidazole The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature fille ...

fiber is a synthetic fiber with a very high decomposition temperature. It does not exhibit a melting point, it has exceptional thermal and chemical stability, ...

(PBI). In the United States, the

National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S.-based international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property damage, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. , the NFPA claims to have 5 ...

publishes the requirements for fire protective clothing under NFPA 1971, ''Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting''. In order to comply with the NFPA standard, protective clothing is required to be tested and certified by independent third-parties, and bear the certifying body's logo and a compliance statement.NFPA 1971: Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, 2007 Edition. National Fire Prevention Association: Boston, Massachusetts. 2007 Such third-party certifications are issued by the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) and UL Solutions.

References

External links

Statue of Liberty Fire Brigade

Examples of Fire Helmet Fronts
{{Fire fighting Firefighting equipment

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links