Fire Protection Training: Bunker Gear

Why do firefighters wear red suspenders?

To hold their pants up.

The 2009 Fire Prevention Week theme, “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burn” is an outlook every fire fighter can take to heart when facing a raging fire on the fire ground. One basic and important item that helps keep the fire fighter from getting burned is the safe use of structure protective clothing or what I call as well as other fire fighters, “bunker gear.” There’s structural bunker gear for the building or MVA fire and there is also the ARFF bunker gear or silver proximity suit for aircraft fires/incidents. Both types of bunker gear I have worn, used, and it has provide me protection to a certain degree of keeping from getting burned. The bunker gear is not fire proof or fire resistant and all who wear this type of personal protective equipment (PPE) need to know what the limitations are. Let’s review some basic aspects of both types of bunker gear:

Structural Bunker Gear:

Structural fire fighters’ protective clothing is designed to protect its wearer from the thermal environments experienced during fire fighting. This includes protection from thermal radiation, hot gas convection, and heat conduction from hot surfaces. Fire fighters may receive serious burn injuries from each of these modes of heat transfer or a combination of them even though they are wearing protective clothing. In addition, fire fighters’ protective clothing is often wet when it becomes heated by the fire fighting environment. Hot vapors and steam are generated inside protective clothing systems that also produce serious burn injuries. Fire fighters’ protective clothing has definite physical limits associated with its ability to protect the wearer. These safe use limits are poorly understood and are not addressed in current fire service protective clothing standards.

Research groups are studying these physical safe use limits for thermal performance of fire fighters’ protective clothing, and developing new test apparatus and predictive tools that will provide insight into the causes of burn injuries. This effort is helping to develop a better understanding and define the safe use limits of fire service protective clothing. As a result, this research effort will assist in reducing the number of serious fire fighter injuries.

Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) Bunker Gear:

Aircraft firefighting/rescue protective clothing (also known as the proximity suit), better known as "silvers/silver bunker suit" is a fire suit designed to protect a firefighter from high radiant fire loads, such as those produced by JP fuels or other bulk flammable fuels. They are worn for aircraft firefighting. They are currently manufactured from vacuum deposited aluminized materials that reflect the high radiant loads produced by the fire. The suits are certified to meet the National Fire Protection Association Standard NFPA 1976-2000, Standard on Protective Ensemble for Proximity Fire Fighting.

Aircraft firefighting/rescue protective clothing is a prime safety consideration for personnel engaged in firefighting and rescue work. Metalized protective clothing offers a means of providing protection to firefighters because of its high percentage of reflectivity to radiant heat. It is important to point out that these garments are not classified as entry suits, but are known as proximity clothing to be worn with firefighter boots that have safety toes and soles.

Firefighters assigned ARFF duties shall be provided with a complete set of protective clothing that meets appropriate NFPA standards. A complete set of protective clothing includes trousers, coat, gloves, nomex hood and proximity helmet or hood and boots.

How do you don personal protective clothing for structural fire and aircraft fires/incidents? Simply put, you put it on to fully provide protection using all bunker gear issued to you.

Proper protective clothing is issued to each firefighter and its use is mandatory on any fire ground. Your personal safety and your value as a crew member depends on your utilization of the personal protective clothing correctly.

Here are a few YouTube videos where Captain Joe Bruni shows how to properly don structural personal protective clothing.…

With fire protection training to become qualified and certified in wearing the SCBA here’s Captain Joe Bruni once again showing in this YouTube video of putting it all together in donning both bunker gear along with the SCBA.…

Because of the variety of situations and exposures firefighters encounter, it is very difficult to provide personal protective clothing and equipment that will meet all needs. The firefighter must fully understand the shortcomings and limitations of various items of clothing and not exceed those limitations through training and use on the fire ground.

Regardless of the degree of protection afforded by any piece of clothing or equipment, much of the effectiveness will be lost if firefighters are not fully trained in its use and maintenance. The correct usage and maintenance of all items of protective equipment are heavily dependent on the individual firefighter's attitude, training and maintenance knowledge. All types of equipment are vulnerable to various forms of deterioration and failure of this piece of equipment would be extremely hazardous. Firefighters should receive instruction on inspecting equipment for deterioration or malfunction and trained, where applicable, in correcting defects.

Don’t get burned by not wearing fire protective equipment hap-hazardously, wear it correctly, and Be Fire Safe.

(The usual disclaimers: I am not a journalist; This is a blog that expresses an outlook and is not conclusive in any shape or manner.)