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Permalink Reply by Greenman on March 16, 2010 at 2:24pm

Upgrade? I know a lot of people love their leather, but I believe the only reason the NFPA still approves any leather helmet for structural Firefighting is they don't want to deal with the loud but vocal minority who still wear that outdated safety equipment and would throw a fit if leather helmets went the way of the horse-drawn steamers.

The composite helmets of today are so much safer and designed for the purpose of firefighting that their is no real reason to still wear leather helmets while structural firefighting. Any materiel which becomes soft while theoretically protecting your noggin is not doing the job it is intended to do. Period.

All leather firefighting helmets are equal...as a part of our history and heritage, and are superb presentation items, and are ok for some Chief Officers (I said SOME Chief Officers! :-) ) whose white leather helmet will be as white at retirement as the day they pinned-on their third trumpet.

Wearing a leather helmet is akin to wearing a rubber turn-out coat, using soda-acid apparatus, scaling building with pompier ladders, using a wetted beard instead of SCBA, or leather fire buckets when firefighting.

Welcome to the Twenty-first Century! Take a look at a Cairns 1010 or 1044 with the defender eye shield (and Bourkes for that "classic look") to actually protect your head and eyes.

Just my 2₵

Greenman

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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on March 16, 2010 at 2:48pm

as long as a helmet meets or exceeds NFPA standards then that one is the best....just because brand "A" costs more doesn't mean it is any better or any worse that brand "B"....this is the type of question I would expect from a probie or a Jr. are you one of these...? Paul

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Teague on March 16, 2010 at 3:47pm

No sir I have been a firefighter/medic for 6 years, and just promoted to asst. training officer. Its just my bullard is coming apart. I bought it new in 2004..05....? and the rim rubber is coming off, the inner is shot with the plastic is coming apart and so loose it wobbles when its tight on my head. Its been dropped, banged around and seen some heat. Ive heard some friends from other departments love the leather lids. I am a rookie on this webpage so just thought I would post my first forum to see other people's comments, and thank you guys for your input!

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Permalink Reply by Bill on March 16, 2010 at 9:28pm

First off NFPA doe snot APPROVE anything.They make recomendations / standards builders have to follow. So if anyone is making a helmet be it leather or composite it must meet the NFPA standard and have the test reports to back it up. I understand the commnets about today being so much better than the old days but leathers are getting the same testing composites are so not sure it really applies. Phenix makes the lightest weight leather on the market. Others are Carins and there are even some mom / pop type shops but they tend to not get any testing done due to the costs so be wary of them. If something should happen to you, not the result of helmet failiure, lawyers will have everything examinded so make sure you have something thats shows it has been tested to meet NFPA standards. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on March 17, 2010 at 6:25am

Isn't setting a performance based standard for a type of equipment "approving" that type of equipment? I would say it is.

You are correct that the NFPA doesn't approved individual pieces of equipment, it is up to the various manufacturers to ensure their product meets the standard for approved types of equipment.

That said, the NFPA has approved composite helmets and still approves leather helmets for use in structural firefighting. Their are several brands of of both types which are manufactured to NFPA Standards.

Greenman

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