What color of turnouts do you use and why. I can't imagine using black because if I go down in a fire, It will be harder to find in black.Yes , I get you have the pass device but sometimes hearing where the sound is coming from in the comotion is hard.I prefer the normal tan color.I clean mine after every fire.Be safe and God Bless all of you.

Views: 3416

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

trevor i would reall appreciate it if you can get me the docs that you spoke of in this response here. i am on the saftey committee and would enjoy this info. thx
One thing that I did not see on here yet . Yes , it is up to you as to the color but the most important thing is to properly clean them after each use and not allow them to dry in the sun . Non of the discussions of safety matters if we use the wrong cleaners and make them unsafe ..God Bless to all and Be Safe .
I'm thinking you've been listening to Raaf. The color of turnouts is just about as important as the color of your engine. Oh, and you can throw into that discussion the color of your helmet. BLEATHER!!!!!
I wish we had black gear. Yeah yeah its tradition and all that. Its hot wah!!! Really? You wanna go in a fire and you are worried about how hot your gear is? cmon,
One you had black, you'll never go back. (Heard that from a couple o' sistas in West Philly).
The reddening is more to deal with effects of UV exposure on the gear. The heat damaged areas are noticed by a darker tan area, very good idea to check under the outer shell to see if the liner has been affected. Good rule of thumb with the PBI is 100 hours of UV light exposure will cause a 20% reduction in tensile strength of the kevlar.
HAHAHA! Nice, good to hear Philly hasn't changed!
I have to say tradition prefers black which we used to have in the Australian Defence Force, though we had a lime shoulder overlay and lime pants with trim. We went to PBI afterwards which I still think was a bad choice.

I've worn numerous sets of turnouts and found neither color hotter than the other, though the stuff that used to have the neoprene liner (anyone remember those?) felt hotter than hell in a job.

The advent of the gore tex liners made life a bit better and so far for the last 12 years or so I have worn my personal gear as a tan color with lime green trim. I just replaced my Duralite from Securitex/Sperian/Honeywell (whoeverthehell it is now) with IIF3 (outer shell) which is gold in color and love it.

Honestly I think it comes down to personal preferance, if you like tradition it's black, if you like to follow the beat of your own drum or have worn them for a few years now there are plenty of color varieties out there to choose from. I used to be a fan of black, but for me personally I just like the tan/gold color as my preferance.

In some cases though you take what's issued to you and deal with it!
There is no safety issue with black gear. It has reflective all over it. Tens of thousands of firefighters wear black gear and are in no more danger than anyone else.
I thought black gear was reserved for ninja firemen ;)

We have tan gear and thanks to some local grants they almost all match now....
I used black Bristol turn-outs for almost 10 years, pbi gold (between Janesville, Morning Pride and Quaker) for almost 12 years, and black morning pride for almost 2 years.

I never noticed the difference in temperature becuase of the color, more so because of the material used and construction of the gear.
I'm on 2 depts and one already uses black turnouts with Black Leather helmets and the other is switching from Tan gear to black soon. I don't see any safety issue especially since there's plenty of reflective material.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Find Members Fast


Or Name, Dept, Keyword
Invite Your Friends
Not a Member? Join Now

© 2024   Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.   Powered by

Badges  |  Contact Firefighter Nation  |  Terms of Service