Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Greenman on February 20, 2010 at 9:19am

I think much of the debate on here about decals or no decals on helmets is of a "Country Cousin / City Cousin" nature. In large cities where apparatus and equipment are uniform across as many as dozens of Fire Stations, then there isn't any room for individual variance, and helmet decals are frowned upon. However in small suburban and rural Fire Departments where there is no consistency from one station or Fire Department to the next, then helmet decals are embraced and an accepted part of Fire Fighter culture.

So to my way of thinking, there is no one correct answer to the debate over helmet decals. There are "real Firefighters" who have no adornment whatsoever on there helmets, and there are "real Firefighters" who have personal adornment. The key for those departments which allow personal adornment is to establish a SOG/SOP which addresses the issue by establishing rules like number of decals allowed or percentage of surface allowed to be covered, establish a reflectivity requirement for decals and not allowed NFPA required Tets/bars to be covered, and prohibit decals which are "in bad taste," and define what that means.

I know Firefighters who work for one department and have shiny black turtle shell helmets with nothing but the Department Shield on the front, and who also volunteer for the department in the town where they reside and use Traditional Style helmet with personal adornment for that department. When are they a "real Firefighter" and when are they not?

Greenman

Permalink Reply by Greenman on March 12, 2010 at 12:04pm

Glad you do, Jack, because I for one think it's amusing sidebar conversation and is in the wrong category. It should be in Non-duty forums, but you know how it is, if you mistakenly start it in the wrong category, it stays there. However, since it does talk about firefighting equipment, I guess it could belong in General Firefighting forums. Either way, glad you think it's important.

Good thing Social Networking isn't part of our job.

Greenman

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