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coat and pants maintenance
to all senior, junior wants an explanation of the coat and pants, would be immediately washed after use? I saw photo/video of American firefighters, why they coat and pants look dirty unwashed? what should not be washed too often? thanks before.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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I think you are asking if firefighters should wash their gear after every fire?
I generally will rinse off my gear with the hose line after each fire because the soot and other "unknowns" you get on your gear will damage the protective fabrics if left on for too long. We do not have a turnout gear washing machine or dryer, so we just rinse them off and let them air out before putting it back on the rack or our gear bags.
I know of someone that takes pride in how dirty his gear is, and thinks its a sign of how "salty" a firefighter is...I just think hes lazy and doesnt take care of the protective gear that takes care of him.
About twice a year we will take a few sets to our neighboring department and borrow their gear washer and dryer and wash them.
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Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on
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We do the same thing here Moose, a rinse with the hose. After a while we will take it to the Quater masters or one of the stations that has a gear washer and get it cleaned. Our quater master keeps a log of when our gear is cleaned he also inspects the gear befor cleaning it. If you wash your gear to often as some folks do, you actualy degrade the gear faster.
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Permalink Reply by capcityff on
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Ours gets washed once each year unless we specially send them in after being contaminated. Definitely not after every fire. We have a second set so we can switch it out if we want but it will usually just go right back on the truck for the next run. We may need to use it again before we even make it back to the fire house after the fire.
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Permalink Reply by frans on
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MR. MOOSE, MR. 55 TRUCK, MR CAPCITYFF = Thank You for explanation. i have new gear (from senior in netherland), that is my first gear. but i did not how to maintenance that. i hear from friend, that gear have maximum 120x washed, if too frequent washing will quickly damage the gear. I do not know about that.
I am often asked about the knowledge of the fire, as this knowledge is rarely at my place. I had to learn a lot, thank you.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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We wash our gear after every fire. Our department follows the NFPA 1851 PPE Cleaning and Inspection Guideline. This is also recommended by our gear manufacturer, Globe. The requirement does make the gear last longer, as chemicals and soot, left of the fabrics will break down the material over time. For those firefighters who "rinse only" with a fire hose are subjected to cancer causing chemicals that can be absorbed through our pores. You are essentially wearing dirty gear and everytime you sweat you are absorbing it again. The advent of the SCBA has pretty much solved lung cancer (if firefighters where them correctly) but we now have a new problem with kidney, colon and testicular cancers in our profession. This is from the chemicals in the smoke and the gear does not protect us from absorbtion. It is also from wearing dirty gear. When you take a shower 2 or 3 days after a fire and you can smell it again when your pores open up from the hot water and steam... that is your body off gassing the bad stuff. PPE manufacturers are now in a race to develop gear that will provide a layer of chemical protection. Until then, our best prevention is to get out of the gear as quick as possible, take a shower as soon as possible, and launder the dirty gear per NFPA 1851. (after every fire and once every six months when there has not been a fire) Where I work, we are afforded the best of the best, we all have two sets of compliant gear, and our stations all have commercial PPE extractor / washers, so when we get back from a fire, we get our our second set of gear for the remaining shift and the junior guy gets washer detail for the dirty gear.
Frans, I would suggest calling the gear manufacturer listed inside your gear and asking them for their specific PPE cleaning recommendations for your gear.
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What if that's not practical? We can't go back to the fire house and stay out of service all day to wash gear. Not to mention there's a lot of companies on scene of a fire and I don't know of any department my size with gear washers in every house. Also what if we run multiple fires in a day? We need to throw our gear back on the piece and take the next run.
It's just not possible with some departments. Over 2000 guys and there's a fire somewhere in the city pretty much daily. That's why we follow a schedule and it gets washed once each year.
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Don't believe me, just look at what this brother has suffered through. (Click Watch Interview)
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Sorry but once a year is just not enough. Now back in the day, when furnishings were all natural, it was CO based and once a year would have been OK. Every fire you go to today is a hazmat. Go ask the hazmat techies if they reuse their "special suits" and they will laugh at you. Why? Because it is contaminated and will jepoardize their well being.
Unfortunately some of the busiest departments in the nation are not going to be able to provide you with enough gear for multiple fires in a shift. But we all have to agree the hazards are the same. Benzene, Tolulene, Acrolein, HCN, CO are all present in today's residential fire. (these have not only created a hazmat for us but the rapid increase in the fire curve, 4 minutes to flashover verse 36 minutes back in the day) And I know some of the busiest departments in the world have literally no budgets for stuff like this. many are laying off to survive. Alot of our equipment came from fed grants on the hazmat side. We have a guy who searches them out and secures them. Unfortunately it is not a perfect world, and hopefully your a presumptive cancer legislation state, unfortunately my state does NOT have it, and cancer is not a LODD. My dept and U have worked hard at reducing the potential internally. You won't see salty gear as the OP states here. Even the helmets get scrubbed.
You would be a thousand times better off if you were to secure an old normal washing machine and wash your gear more. Hook it in the bay to the car wash hose. Label it gear only. I know some small VFD's around my way that do this and wash the liners only and then the shells only (to lighten the wash load) People upgrade them all the time and guys find them for little to no money at times. This would be better than wearing your gear with contaminates from a couple hundred fires between washes.
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I agree with your reasoning. Definitely not arguing that. It's just that it's not practical for all departments. It would be easier for a volunteer department that only runs 100 runs each year but we have 2000 guys running 170,000 runs each year. We clear an average fire scene(not counting multiple alarm fires) in usually less than an hour. First due companies might be there for two. Still have 22 hours left in the day where we need our gear. Then if every person on scene washes their gear, that makes almost 50 sets. That's if there is only one single alarm fire for the day in the entire city.
Think of somewhere like Detroit or Flint or Camden where every company goes to fire every day. It's even more impossible for them to do it.
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Hello MR FETC. Thank you for information. i want ask you, what is mean NFPA 1851 PPE. Sorry Sir, in my city and my country very difficult to find information detail for fire equipment. i also learn in this site (FFN=firefighternation.com) with you all senior and profesional firefighter.
My PPE (helmet bullard, coat and pants), i get from good guy in netherland, where i meet him in internet, he saw my photo when fire without PPE. I had low knowledge about the world of fire. i just pure volunteer, everyday i work in small printing service by myself. so expending for volunteer firefighter i buy by myself, except that PPE from netherland. very high cost for buy fire equipment. no safety equipment in my fire foundation. my coat and pant are made in germany, may be i should ask for germany firefighter.
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Permalink Reply by Marc Hansen on
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FETC
NFPA 1851 recommends "routine cleaning" after each use. They define routine cleaning as spot cleaning, brushing off dry debris and rinsing with a hose. Advanced cleaning is using cleaning compounds and washing machines, which is recommended at least every 6 months if gear is issued, used and soiled. If your department can afford 2 sets of gear for every FF great, but for some of us fiscal reality is we get one set to use and it gets clean as we get the chance (yes it gets washed often just not every call)
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Cap,
I know where you are coming from here and the issues at hand. While it seems as though there is advocation to clean (wash) gear after every fire, it really isn't practical. I do believe the issue with spot cleaning etc as Marc mentions is correct. Yep clean up what you can, but it is understood that the gear may have to be worn again during the day.
I would think though, that there is a way to work something out further and reasonable for cleaning. Most firefighters who work in cities have a shift schedule with time off where it can be possible to get gear cleaned more routinely. Now I won't even venture to guess how things are set up in DC, etc, but basically saying there is possibility to have gear cleaned during a time off period.
Now I can't delve into how every dept is set up and how things are done, but while we are not as big nor as busy as DC, we do see similar issues. Not every station has a gear washer, it isn't feasible to wash gear after every call, etc. However, the dept asks us to have gear cleaned routinely and after fires as possible. This may mean that one brings their gear to a station with a washer after a shift or prior to a 4 day (California schedule) and shows up prior to going back to work to get their gear put back together. Duty crews here will take care of the gear after it is washed, and hang it up to dry. Just saying there are ways to get things done despite a busy workload.
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