Firefighter helmets, in the earliest stages, were "stove pipe" type helmets that strongly resembled the top hat made famous by President Abraham Lincoln. They were made of a rigid leather material with the name of the department the firefighter worked for painted on the front, and didn’t serve much of a safety purpose, only to signal which department the firefighter belonged to.

The traditional fire helmet was founded by an FDNY volunteer firefighter, Henry T. Gratacap, sometime between… Continue