Turnout gear and flashlights

Do you prefer helmet mounted flashlight or a flashlight clipped on your bunker and why?

Do you prefer shield on your helmet or goggles and why?

Does anyone know where to get boots that are second hand?

Where can I find second hand turnout gear that is either willing to ship here to the Philippines or ship to my families house in Florida so they can send it here? If the place is willing to ship via a balikbayan box then that's great since it saves on shipping cost to Florida.

Right now my Volunteer brigade is responding but we are lacking gear quite a bit and I am willing to try and raise some funds to get second hand gear sent here if we are unable to get any donations.
My volunteer brigade is Pasig Alliance and here is their website: www.pasig-alliance.co.nr/
TCSS,

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Permalink Reply by Lt. Dan (1508) on October 19, 2009 at 7:58pm

I like a helmet mounted flashlight as it provides light where you are looking. I still carry a clip on in a pocket just in case and it easily clips onto my SCBA. I actually prefer goggles as well. In a structure fire we are wearing our SCBA masks, so it really doesn't matter what you have. I do like them for MVA's as they provide more all around eye protection and have also found them quite useful in brush/grass fire situations in keeping most of the smoke out of your eyes. As far as your second hand boots or gear in general, try looking around on the internet and see if there are vendors of used gear out there. Several years ago we sold some of our old air packs to a company that refurbed them and sold them overseas. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Jason McDonald on October 19, 2009 at 8:11pm

Thanks for the replies.

I have been searching for second hand gear but when I find it we simply cannot afford it. The name of he game here is save, save, save and the third typhoon in a month is about to hit us so we are not going to guy equipment for a while as our firefighters are still recovering from severe damage.

Thanks to the donation of Captain Busy, we have another firefighter with us fighting fire.

TCSS and thanks again for the comments.

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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on October 19, 2009 at 8:43pm

Hey Jason,

Like most everybody else, I carry two lights. A helmet mount(LED) for hands-free and a 2xD cell maglight in my bunkers.

I removed my shield and went to goggles. The first reason being I had a wire come off of a rotary wire brush(drill powered) which traveled UNDER my shield and harpooned my lower left eyelid. No permanent damage, but that STUNG!

Also, I wear perscription glasses and they tend to fog up under the shield.

Lastly, on more than one occasion, while conducting emergency wall-breach drills, I have had the shield press down against the mask disconnect button and shut down my airflow. Not a comfortable feeling!

As for boots, you might try e-bay. Like most departments, we will use boots until the steel toe falls out.

Good luck on your hunt.

TCSS,

Reg

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Permalink Reply by Jason McDonald on October 19, 2009 at 8:50pm

Reg,

Thanks for the reply. I also wear prescription glasses and I have a hard time with them fogging up as well.

As for the boots, those are hard to find and when I find them, they do not want to ship here. I have managed to overcome that but by the time I did, I was too late and the boots were gone. No worries, I will find them again. Also, I plan on coming home to the states for vacation in about 8 or 9 months and when I do, I will need to bring some gear that we have here to the USA and visit some stations and compare notes, stories, and have some good old hamburgers.

TCSS,

J

Turnout gear and flashlights

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