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Black turn outs and safety
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.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ron King (Fire Chief) on
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Our dept. used black for years. our new gear is tan. I see your point about black. Black was very common in gear many years ago. there was not any 3m tape. Just day glow that would burn. firefighter safety has step up through the years. this is a good thing. Keeping our members safe should always be number one on our list.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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Richmond Virginia uses it as well they do however have Orange stripping on theres that I think makes it pretty visible. I can not comment on the heat aspect.
I can say thay it does look better but looks are not everything. I think perice trucks look nicer than seagrave but seagraves out perfrom them and thats what it is really all about. We use a beige or light gray color. I have used all different colors and I do not notice a difference on heat absorbtion.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Joe, that's an excellent point. I've found the same when performing outside duties in the sun.
The other thing is that the brighter colors make it easier to see the firefighters in daylight against a wide variety of backgrounds. The yellow pants in the center of this photo draw the eye much quicker than even the bright trim on the rest of the gear shown.
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Permalink Reply by paula beckham on
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all of ours in new zealand is tan with the reflective tape on
on a side thought i was doing training with some air port guys a wee while ago and they had luminescent and reflective tape on them we went into a completely blacked out building and they stood out clear as day where the rest of us could hardly be seen at all i thought it was quite a clever idea
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Permalink Reply by Truckie Jay on
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Just switched from tan to black turnout and also switched to a black duty gear. Heat wise, gear is gear on a fire it is all warm.
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Permalink Reply by Corey Uranker on
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I use the tan color with a reflective vest.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Everson on
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We have tan with yellow reflective stripes. My first turn-out gear, in 1987, was a long black coat and thigh high rubber boots. Really quick to get dressed but out of date!!!
Paul
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Permalink Reply by Kyle on
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We use black. To add to our comment if you go down in a fire you wont see the black gear, In a good fire you can see at all to begin with. I personally like the black gear because all the surronding departments have the tan, so if you get a big situation you know who your own guys are
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to add to your comment about black gear being to hot, i find that false. I wear black gear in my paid department, an tan in my volunteer department an there is no difference in heat conditions
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Permalink Reply by Mark Earle on
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I think if you go down in a fire it's not gonna matter what color your gear is, NFPA requires that all SCBA's be equiped with an integrated pass alarm, that is what will save you, not the color....
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Mark, do you ever go to calls other than fires or work in a position where the sun shines on your gear? If so, you'll notice how much hotter black gear is than a lighter color.
We need to focus our safety efforts on the big picture, not just one part of it.
Ben
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Permalink Reply by Ronald Williams II on
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and Charleston WV to the list, and all the vollys that run black
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