The revolution in protective clothing has been unrelenting over recent years, driven by incredible technical innovation. Today’s firefighters wear clothing made from lightweight fire-resistant fabrics that incorporate systems to manage heat and moisture build-up and mitigate risks such as heat stress, particulate and pathogen penetration.
Many of those issues were barely understood 25 years ago, but the pace of development in protective clothing has been quick to keep up with the increased knowledge and understanding of evolving risks.
It’s not that long ago that firefighters wore structural suits for every operational situation and in some countries they still do. Wearing gear designed to protect against the extremes of a fire, such as flashovers, to respond to rescues and wildfires is usually a level of overprotection that significantly increases the risk of heat stress.
The ‘holy grail’ of firefighter gear has always been the concept of a single ensemble or modular system that could be worn to every incident, avoiding the need for different garments for rescue and wildland fire responses. This is because fire safety in communities has improved and traditional structural fires now only account for around 20% of the operational responses.
Rescue teams need lightweight, breathable, water- and pathogen-proof garments that give high freedom of movement and thermal protection from flash fire.
Wildland firefighters need very lightweight and highly breathable garments that offer heat and flame protection.
These are very different from the high levels of thermal and flame protection needed in a structural firefighting.
The difficulty with developing PPE that is suitable for all the varied tasks of modern firefighting is that it most likely results in too much of a compromise. But creating a modular system has worked in a limited way for some services. For example, responding with structural kit trousers and swapping the jacket to a lightweight version for rescue work. But the danger is that the focus becomes the need to make all the gear fit together, rather than making sure that it is the best solution for the job at hand.
At Gore, our technical development teams work closely with fire and rescue services to understand the changing operational profiles and develop the best possible protection designed for the task at hand.
Our range of high-performance moisture barriers perform to meet those specialised needs:
GORE-TEX CROSSTECH PARALLON System is lightweight, breathable and waterproof, delivering high levels of thermal protection in firefighter PPE. It reduces the risk of burn injuries and heat stress in wet and dry conditions and has been developed to specifically combat the risks associated with moisture and heat stress.
GORE-TEX CROSSTECH Moisture Barriers combine the durable waterproofness and breathability of GORE-TEX Products with protection from blood-borne pathogens and particulates.
GORE-TEX PYRAD Product Technology is lightweight, durably windproof, waterproof and breathable with flame and antistatic protection designed to replace structural gear for technical rescue work. It allows firefighters to work in confined spaces for longer, reducing the risk of heat stress.
All Gore technical fire fabrics comfortably exceed International PPE performance standards including AS 4967 EN469 and the OEKO-TEX Standard 100, as well as NFPA 1951, 1999 and 1971.
For more information, go to www.goretexprofessional.com
