Turnout Gear of the Future

[mllax14 18]

From Firehouse.com

LON SLEPICKA & TERIA ROGERS

Firehouse.Com News

• A bunker gear ensemble, able to protect firefighters additionally against chemical and biological toxins is going into field testing this summer. 

With the mission to produce gear that would move toward “all-hazards” protection, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and Total Fire Group/Morning Pride Manufacturing displayed a prototype of the ensemble at this April’s Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis. 

Listen to IAFF's Rich Duffy: 

• Project Heroes Background 

• Project Heroes PPE Specifications 

• Project Heroes PPE Testing 

• Project Heroes PPE Contact Information 

IAFF Assistant to the General President for Health and Safety and Medicine, Rich Duffy, said at the FDIC presentation that their goal was to follow the look and function of current structural fire fighting gear and keep the additional CBRN protection passive; nothing other then donning the gear would be necessary. 

Key was the replacement of the traditional moisture barrier with a moisture/chemical/biological barrier that provides the same level of breathability as current moisture barriers. It was also imperative that areas open to elements, i.e. wrist, ankle and collar areas, were completely sealed. 

Also important was to create a complete ensemble that would be tested as a single piece of gear. The gear includes hood, coat, gloves and pants with integrated bootie liner. 

What the IAFF and Morning Pride have come up with is: 

•  The hood is always deployed, sealed together with the coat at the collar line. It is constructed of outer shell, moisture barrier, and thermal liner. A flexible gasket seal designed to fit SCBA is built into the hood. The coat closure zipper extends upward to seal hood around face piece. 

•  The coat has a FIN liner attachment that creates a baffle that allows sealing with a vapor tight zipper. 

•  The gloves interface with the coat sleeves with a magnet gasket seal. Lateral locks prevent disengagement but detach with twisting action. 

•  A power lock strap provides coat to waist high pant interface seal. A built in collapsible fly eliminates the need for a zipper closure on the pants. 

•  Sock-like bootie liner extension from the pant leg fits into boots that accept the bootie. A flap over the top of the boot prevents liquid leakage, keeping feet 100 percent dry. 

•  An innovative system captures the SCBA exhalation feeding into a duct system in the coat. It provides positive pressure against exterior penetration and an upper torso cooling system. 

With the moisture barrier being the key sealant for exterior penetration, it permits the use of various outer shell and thermal barrier materials. The capturing of the exhaled air that is then circulated in the coat was said to act as a cooling system since in general firefighting conditions, outside temperatures surpass the temperatures of that air. 

Helmets and SCBA are not included in the ensemble but the ensemble is adaptable to that which is available and in use. 

Called “Project HEROES” (Homeland Emergency Response Operational and Equipment Systems), a federal government contract from the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) with funding from the Department of Homeland Security, the IAFF teamed with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, NIOSH, University of Massachusetts and University of Arkansas, along with Total Fire Group/Morning Pride Manufacturing to recreate this gear. 

The goal is to create certified protective clothing that is as indistinguishable as possible from current structural fire fighting gear, but still offers improved chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protections, without sacrificing thermal protection, comfort and functionality. 

Chemical protection is against such agents as cyanides, mustard agent, nerve agents, and toxic industrial chemicals. 

Biological protection is for such agents as anthrax, botulinum toxin, and ricin. 

Radiological and nuclear protection is for material that causes destruction, contamination, and injury from the radiation. 

After the demonstration at FDIC, field assessments at major metropolitan fire departments will take place in spring/summer 2005 for evaluating the new technology and leading to its subsequent commercialization. 

As the gear goes into field testing, project spokesmen said everything was open to investigation. How functional, practical it is, and how closely it meets the goal will all be questioned and the gear could face redesigned if needed. 

International Personnel Protection, Inc. and Jeffrey O. Stull is one of Project HEROES team members. Stull ‘s specific roles are the technical coordination of the project, the development of the test plans and project schedule, the execution of all testing, the preparation of project reports, and the development of the Project HEROES specification. 

Stull addressed some specific technical questions about the prototype. 

1. What is new about the moisture barrier? 

Current moisture barriers in structural fire fighting protective clothing are designed to keep fire ground liquids out, including water, blood/body fluids, and common chemicals (hydraulic fluid, AFFF, battery acid, etc.). These barriers physically stop bulk liquids from penetrating through the clothing material layers to the interior of the clothing. However, at the same time, the moisture barrier must be breathable by allowing water vapor generated by sweating to leave the clothing. When concerned about highly toxic chemicals, penetration resistance is not sufficient to prevent contact of the fire fighter's skin with the chemicals. Instead, the clothing material layers must prevent the permeation of these toxic chemicals at the molecular level -- keeping the number of chemical molecules in a vapor state that pass through to the interior of the clothing at low enough levels to be safe. Even with this increased level of barrier performance, it is still important that garments still be comfortable and breathable. Therefore, it is a real challenge to the Project HEROES team to identify and select materials that prevent permeation of chemical warfare agents and highly toxic industrial chemicals and still be breathable compared to current moisture barriers. The Project HEROES team is working with a couple of manufacturers that have provided candidate materials that are capable of offering this performance. 

2. How is radiological and nuclear protection addressed? 

Most of the focus in the Project Heroes project is on protection against chemical agents. Biological agents are already addressed in the NFPA 1971 standard (“specifies the minimum design, performance, and certification requirements, and test methods for structural protective ensembles that include protective coats, protective trousers, protective coveralls, helmets, gloves, footwear, and interface components”) by the inclusion of the viral penetration test. The viral penetration resistance test simulates exposure to blood borne pathogens and acts as a reliable predictor for air borne pathogen penetration through materials. The Project HEROES team is using a man-in-simulant test (MIST) to assess the effectiveness of the design against chemical vapors and other airborne contaminants. MIST evaluations have been used for the past several decades by the military to determine acceptable performance for soldier ensembles against chemical and biological warfare agents. In addition to MIST evaluations, a liquid integrity test for the overall ensemble is applied that demonstrates how the ensemble prevents the penetration by liquids. This combination of vapor testing in MIST and liquid integrity testing effectively demonstrates how the ensemble will hold out aerosols and particulates. 

While Project HEROES will get a CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) label, the only radiological and nuclear hazards to be held out are radioactive particulates (these are alpha particles, beta particles, and solids that have become radioactive). Project HEROES ensembles will not protect against high energy radiation sources such as gamma rays or X-rays. This practice is consistent with the NIOSH labeling of CBRN SCBA and air-purifying respirators. 

3. How does the bootie design work differently from a conventional boot? 

The Project HEROES bootie design is truly unique. Normally, every fire fighter boot has a liner incorporated that provides much of the insulation. In the case of leather boots, the liner also incorporates a moisture barrier similar to fire fighter protective clothing. However, this barrier is separate from the barrier in the pants and the interface between pants and footwear currently allows vapors to easily pass and in some cases allows liquid to enter the clothing system as well (as in the case with fire fighters crawling in wet spaces). The Project HEROES Integrated Boot and Pants provides a continuous liner of the pants with a bootie. The bootie uses the same general barrier material as the garment so that complete liquid and vapor protection is offered. The fire fighter boot must be modified so that only the boot leather shell is used. The bootie is affixed inside the leather boot shell by Velcro, which keeps the bootie in place during all wearing conditions (the bootie can only be removed by reaching down the sides of the boot shell and bootie to release the Velcro). The lower lining of the pants and bootie are further designed to so that a flap of barrier material extends over the top of the boot shell to keep liquids from entering the boot. In donning the boot for the first time, the fire fighter puts on his pants and then steps into the boots, ensuring that the flap on the liner covers the top of the boots. The fire fighter then pulls the shell over the boots. The pants and boots can then be stored and donning just like ordinary fire fighter boots and pants with the pants pulled down over top of the boots. This design feature helps with structural fire fighting because it presents any liquid getting inside the boot when the fire fighter is crawling under wet conditions. 

4. How does the ventilation system work? 

The Project HEROES system employs an Insulated Cooling System where exhalation air from the SCBA is captured by a special connection and diverted into the coat. Features in the coat permit the air to circulate in the upper torso. This feature provides improved integrity that prevents the inward leakage of outside contaminants through the many interfaces found in the upper body (hood to coat, hood to face piece, front closure, sleeve to glove, coat to pants). It also potentially provides a source of cooling by providing convection and the ability to absorb some of the moisture created by sweating inside the coat. Lastly, the additional air may offer enhanced insulation to the upper body during structural fire fighting where many burns occur. Continual refinements are being made on this feature; however, the Project HEROES team is working to evaluate how well this feature works at selected field sites and in detailed laboratory testing. 

5. How will this new system be specified? 

The technical committee responsible for NFPA 1971 is currently revising the standard as it applies to structural fire fighting protective ensembles. As part of their revision effort, the committee is considering the addition of an option which will address supplemental CBRN protection. This option sets material and clothing system (ensemble) requirements for protection against chemical and biological agents that demonstrate ensemble effectiveness against highly hazardous vapors, liquids, and particles. In addition, other requirements are being added which will address durability and sustainability of protection, an important concern for the fire service for ensuring that the protection remains in place over the lifetime of the product. If adopted, the CBRN option in NFPA 1971 will allow the manufacturers to certify ensembles (garments, gloves, footwear with specified CBRN SCBA) for this enhanced level of protection. In addition, the Project HEROES team is developing its own specification that will exceed the NFPA 1971 requirements for even better performance. This specification will establish minimum requirements for being a Project HEROES ensemble. 

6. How accessible are many of the features being implemented in the Project HEROES ensemble? 

The IAFF project team has established open material specifications, which will allow various suppliers to provide qualified materials that meet the proposed NFPA 1971 CBRN and Project HEROES requirements. In fact, several suppliers have provided viable candidate materials that are being considered. Many of the design features are proprietary, but both the Project HEROES and NFPA 1971 CBRN specifications would allow any design which demonstrates the needed overall integrity of the ensemble in protecting against CBRN agents. In this fashion, alternative materials and designs can be developed to meet these rigorous but necessary requirements. 

The Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) is the U.S. national forum that identifies, prioritizes, and coordinates interagency and international research and development (R&D) requirements for combating terrorism. The TSWG rapidly develops technologies and equipment to meet the high priority needs of the combating terrorism community, and addresses joint international operational requirements through cooperative R&D with major allies.

Slide Show at

http://www.firehouse.com/hotshots/slidesho...y=2005/0505_ppe

It sounds like a good idea, but who knows how much it costs and what Westchester departments will use or afford them.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

A integrated hood with the coat? Oh boy, what are we going to do with the dinosaurs and the youngin's that listen to them, who say that hoods are dangerous, they "suck" because you can't feel your ears? :roll: ](*,) #-o

Many of the options sound great on paper. This means in the wonderful world as we know it, the NYS fire service, let no technological advancement in firefighter safety compromise tradition and "we do it this way." We'll have that gear 10 to 15 years after its widespread acceptance everywhere else.