Permalink Reply by Hugh on February 10, 2009 at 10:41am
To me the thing that stands out the most to me is the Cairns 1010 is a duplicate of the Cairns Leather 5A but it seems like it is cut down and made out of plastic and is smaller but I think The Cairns 5a Leather New Yorker can't be beat but I am always opened minded to new products for the fire service.Hughie The 57 House
Cairns 1010 is our preference......we had bought some MP Ben II for the officers but we hated them.Don't seem to fit like a 1010 does so we switched back.
I used to like my 1010 with 4 1/2 shield- UNTILL I got my 1044 with defender shield-Shorter back (don't hit bottle as much ) and the defender shield gets out of the way if you use a light or a camra ( I have both ) and has more protection then the 4 1/2 shield
The defender shield comes from the european style helmets, both MSA and Draeger helmet over here in europe have that type of eye protection that is stored inside the helmet (protected) and can be foulded down when u need it.
Good progress for american style fire helmets.
Off topic, your dad did a ride-along with Engine 6 today. I saw him at the USAR team confined space drill we did this morning. It was good to see him back in the street again...just like old times.
On topic, I wear a N5A leather. I have a 660-C turtle as a backup. Eye protection for both is the snap-on ESS goggles for fire and Lowe's safety glasses for rescue.
My tech rescue helmet is a Pacific series 5, and my water rescue helmet is a WRSI.
I think just about every dept. I've been to uses Cairns. Whatever the type be, the popular brand it seems is Cairns. Personally, we have the 1010 and everybody is fine with them. I dont think anybody is particularly in love with them but they serve their purpose and they hold up nicely. I'm partial to a leather helmet but never spent the money to buy one
We are issued Cairns 1010, but we buy either leather New Yorkers or leather Sam Houstons. We use the borkes instead of the faceshields. At my other FD, we are issued the Morning Pride Ben II's. No one in our area uses the metro style helmets.
I would have to say that Cairns 1010 helmets are probably the most popular. At least most everyone I know are using them. On our dept. we have the 1010's with defender shields and bourkes sheilds.