How to Remove Unburned Fuels from Fire Gear

Mar 10, 2010 Cleaning, Industry News Leave a comment

How to Remove Unburned Fuels from Fire Gear

Unburned fuels, also referred to as petroleum hydrocarbons, gather over time on personal protective gear and can become flammable if exposed to intense hear. For this reason the National Fire Protection Agency 1851 guidelines suggest that they be removed regularly.

Unfortunately it is estimated that only about ten percent of all departments in the United States have adequate cleaning and repair programs in place. While you can search the Internet for many home remedies that often involve some combination of rubbing alcohol, laundry detergent, baking soda, and vinegar the truth is you should probably leave it up to the professionals. If you would like an estimate on cleaning your turnout gear please visit 911 Clean online or call them toll free at 866-370-7800.

Firefighter Gear Cleaning – Do’s and Don’ts

Mar 8, 2010 Cleaning Leave a comment

Here is a short list of Do’s and Do Not’s regarding cleaning, repairing, and altering your firefighter turnout gear. If you would like an estimate on either of these services to your turnout gear please visit 911Clean online or call them toll free at 866-370-7800.

Clean your turnout gear at least every six months
Perform routine inspections on your bunker gear for damage or wear
Dry gear in a well ventilated area away from sunlight
Wash gear in a front loading extractor, not a washing machine
Fasten all closures prior to washing gear

Do Not

Expose your gear to Ultraviolet Rays
Clean gear with bleach or peroxide
Use expired or compromised gear
Perform advanced inspections on your own

I hope you found this information of some assistance if you have any questions regarding the clean and repair process of your fire turnout ensemble please contact us toll free at 866-370-7800 or visit us online.

2010 Spokes Model Photo Shoot

Mar 2, 2010 Company News, Fire Expo Leave a comment

This past Saturday 911 Safety Equipment held its fourth annual spokes model photo shoot at a local fire company. To view additional photos click on the picture below or the following link.

Bunker Gear- Cleaning and Repairing

Feb 25, 2010 How to, Industry News Leave a comment

Keep It Clean
Aug 1, 2007 12:00 PM
By Rick Markley

You may never see the guy on cable TV don bunker gear and crawl through an involved structure to show what a dirty job firefighting is. Nonetheless, firefighting is a dirty job. And there are good reasons to keep firefighters clean beyond looking good when the local news cameras show up at a scene.

The filth that attaches itself to bunker gear is more than unsightly; it is dangerous. The National Fire Protection Association says these dangers include hydrocarbon-soiled gear absorbing more radiant heat and being more likely to conduct electricity than clean gear. Heavily soiled gear also is more likely to ignite. And dirty gear increases the risk that firefighters will become ill by inhaling, ingesting or absorbing cancer-causing toxins from materials such as petroleum or asbestos, or from communicable diseases from bodily fluids such as blood.

NFPA’s 1851 standard gives fire departments guidelines for inspecting, cleaning and repairing turnout gear. (A revised version of the standard is due out soon.) Some of what 1851 requires is that turnout gear be taken out of service at least once every six months for advanced cleaning. Whereas routine cleaning can be as simple as brushing or hosing gear off, advance cleaning involves using cleaning agents and either hand or machine washing. The standard also requires regular inspections and repairs, specifies drying techniques, and sets out record-keeping requirements.

Most fire chiefs will agree that these minimum cleaning and repair requirements are good for both department and gear. But there’s more than one path to 1851 compliance.

One unique path that’s just surfaced in the United States is a program offered by Lion Apparel called Total Care. Vicki Smith, Total Care’s marketing director, got the program rolling in 1998 with the London Fire Brigade. The program has expanded to include cities in Spain, Australia, England and Germany. All of New Zealand uses the service and about two years ago Toronto came on board. The first American city, Chicago, signed on early this year and began services this summer.

The service involves collecting turnout gear from each firefighter once every six months. The gear is taken to a 16,000-square-foot downtown Chicago facility where it is given advanced cleaning, put in a special drying room and inspected for damage. Damaged gear is repaired on site and there is a special area to deal with gear that is contaminated. Lion then delivers the clean gear back to the fire station.

Chicago signed a two-year contract with three one-year options to follow. London began with a five-year contract and has renewed each year. Smith, who spent nine years in London, says that the London Brigade “had a culture of clean and was outsourcing gear cleaning.” But it wasn’t done on a timetable before Lion; each firefighter would arrange his or her own cleaning. What’s also different in the United Kingdom is a law giving government agencies responsibility for its workers personal protective equipment.

“When I was in London, in the first year we had a fire in a tire factory,” Smith says. “We received hundreds of sets of gear that were covered with soot from rubber. We had another situation where we had a fire in a facility that held chemicals; that fire burned for five days. Anybody who responded to that situation had the possibility of being contaminated with a chemical.”

In Chicago, as in London, Lion will collect, decontaminate, inspect and repair any gear that firefighters suspect may have come in contact with toxins. In fact, the contract with Chicago gives Lion a four-hour window to retrieve the gear and distribute loaner gear from the time a firefighter notifies Lion of contaminated gear. That means Lion’s 12-member staff must split the 24-hour on-call duties, even on holidays.

“Fire departments don’t work 8 to 5, and they don’t always know their schedule,” Smith says. “They don’t know day to day or hour to hour what is going to happen. That’s why we have our own emergency hotline; fires don’t just happen during the day.”

Emergencies aside, there are still the logistics of trying to switch gear for Chicago’s 5,100 firefighters, she says. Lion collects and cleans the gear while firefighters are on furlough. To coordinate these schedules, the Chicago Fire Department turned over human-resource information that tells where firefighters are stationed and when they are scheduled for work, as well as their names, gear size and sex. Lion houses this information in a database that matches each firefighter to a unique bar code on each piece of gear. And this, Smith says, gives Chicago the record-keeping data required by 1851.

“When we collect it our drivers scan the gear with handheld scanners,” Smith says. “When they come back to the warehouse and upload into the system, we know we’ve collected Joe Smith’s gear. Everything through the warehouse is tracked by serial number.”

But this service doesn’t come cheap, and many departments would be hard-pressed to justify such an expense. There are many turnout cleaning and repair services across the country. And many advertise 24- to 48-hour turnaround, loaner gear, repair services, and bar-code tracking. Departments outside the delivery areas of these services can ship turnout gear and have the clean gear shipped back. For departments with only one set of gear for each firefighter, the added shipping time can be troublesome.

That was the dilemma facing Ohio’s Violet Township Fire Department. “The department cannot afford to have a second set of gear, which makes using an outside firm impractical,” says Lt. Dave Carter. “When gear had been sent for repair, it had sometimes taken three to four weeks.”

Violet Township’s 39 full-time firefighters are spread across three stations and cover about 43 square miles and a population of 35,000, just east of Columbus, Ohio. Between fire and EMS calls, the department responds to 3,800 calls per year. Six years ago, Carter was put in charge of bringing the department into 1851 compliance. He set up schedules and procedures for cleaning in-house using a Milner washer-extractor and a rinse solution he buys from National Safety Clean.

“If it is a small department that isn’t faced with logistical problems such as the tracking elements, I don’t know why they wouldn’t be able to accomplish it on their own if they are willing to invest in the equipment and the time that it takes,” Smith says.

Randy Radtke, UniMac’s spokesman, advises small departments to focus on flexibility. Machines with microprocessor controls will do a variety of laundry tasks and be adaptable to changes in 1851, he says.

Most washer-extractor manufacturers, such as Continental Girbau and UniMac, say their machines will perform advanced cleaning. Continental’s washers have controls to set the G-force, mechanical action, water temperature and chemical injection.

Violet Township firefighters clean their gear two to three times per year, or immediately if they get dirty on a run. For the most part, the firefighters inspect and clean their own gear. However, sometimes the oncoming shift will clean the gear of the departing shift. Carter says the firefighters pay close attention to others’ gear. It is a small department and everyone looks out for each other, he says.

But buy-in to the program wasn’t immediate. “It took about a year and a half to get everyone into that habit,” Carter says. “The big thing is that it gets the guys hands on the gear and they start recognizing tears. They are taking accountability of their gear.”

Currently, Carter and one other officer are overseeing the department’s 1851 program. However, there are two more being trained for supervision. The department does all of its repairs in house except for the liners. Liners must be sent out because Violet Township doesn’t have a seam sealer.

Back in Chicago, Smith has several sewing stations, a seam sealer and equipment to install heavy seams and hardware such as rivets. In addition, Smith says that the revised 1851 calls for “the liner systems to be opened after three years of use so that the moisture barrier is exposed and can be inspected. The moisture barrier is sewn to a thermal liner and is not easily inspected. It also says that after that third year, you have to inspect the liner annually.”

Smith says all that effort pays off because the gear will not only be safer but last longer. “If you routinely maintenance gear, you are less likely to get into a state where it is economically unfeasible to repair gear. It is like an automobile. Some people always take it in when it needs service, and they won’t be faced with the catastrophic repairs as some one who’s driven it five years without changing the oil.”

Carter agrees. He says Violet Township’s gear lasts about two years long since the department adopted the 1851 standard. “Keeping it clean and keeping up on repairs has made a big difference in the life of the gear.” -end of article

Do’s and Do Not’s of Cleaning Turnout Gear

Feb 25, 2010 How to, Industry News Leave a comment

Clean your turnout gear at least every six months
Perform routine inspections on your bunker gear for damage or wear
Dry gear in a well ventilated area away from sunlight
Wash gear in a front loading extractor, not a washing machine
Fasten all closures prior to washing gear

Do Not

Expose your gear to Ultraviolet Rays
Clean gear with bleach or peroxide
Use expired or compromised gear
Perform advanced inspections on your own

Removing Diesel Fuel from your Fire Bunker Gear?

Feb 25, 2010 Cleaning, How to Leave a comment

In the countless number of yearly motor vehicle accidents involving a semi-truck and another vehicle there is a good chance that you will inevitably find a hole in the corner of the saddle tank that will leak diesel fuel onto the roadway. While members of your crew contain the incident you may have saturated your bunker gear with a flammable substance in the process.

While you can go on and read many home remedies that often involve some combination of rubbing alcohol, laundry detergent, baking soda, and vinegar the truth is you should probably leave it up to the professionals. If you would like an estimate on cleaning your turnout gear please visit 911Clean online or call them toll free at 866-370-7800.

Things to Know

Do not put saturated garments in hamper with non-saturated garments
Do not dry the garment in a drying machine
Use a commercial sized extractor, not a washing machine

The Steps to Becoming a Firefighter

Feb 25, 2010 How to, Industry News Leave a comment

The Steps to Becoming a Firefighter

In today’s economy it seems as though there just aren’t enough jobs to go around. With the lack of available jobs, it almost seems silly to try to switch to a whole new career. There are many fields of expertise out there that are almost impossible to find work in. However, there are some fields that will always need more employees. These include nurses who wear medical scrubs, police officers to patrol the streets, and firefighters to keep our homes and loved ones safe.

Although becoming a firefighter isn’t a walk in the park, if you set your mind on it you can do it. There are several steps that you must take to become a firefighter. The first thing you need to do is make sure that you meet the minimum requirements. You must have graduated from high school or have obtained your GED. You will also need a valid driver’s license and positive record. You need to be at least 18 years old and be able to communicate in English both orally and in writing.

The next step is to take the written exam. This exam is usually two parts and takes only one day to complete. Feel free to wear your comfortable sports scrubs during the exam. The first part of the exam consists of a two and a half hour study period. All necessary study materials will be provided to you. When this first part is complete, your study materials will be collected and the second part of the exam will begin: the written test itself. You will have one and a half hours to complete the test. If you do not appear for the study period, you will not be allowed to take the test.

If you pass the written test, you will move on to an oral board interview exam. This is a formal business interview that allows the Personnel Department to see a more in-depth view of each candidate’s skills, qualifications, background and interests. If you pass this initial oral interview, you will be given a chance at a second interview. Once you pass all portions of the examination process you will be placed on the eligible list ranked according to performance on the oral exams.

Once you have passed these exams you will then be required to complete a physical ability test, medical exam, psychological testing and background screening. The medical exam may be conducted by someone wearing plus size scrubs who will check your vision and hearing and perform a drug test.

-Article by Alice Lane
Website

Top Firefighter Academies and Schools

Feb 25, 2010 Industry News Leave a comment

Men and women all over the country and of every age are interested in starting or changing their careers with the current economic situation. Whether a newly graduated high school or college student or young adult looking to start their career, there’s a large amount of people who are looking into the career of firefighting to serve the neighborhood and the state they reside in.

Firefighter certificates are typically offered via community colleges and vocational schools. Students will get an overview of safety and crisis procedures and fire extinguishing techniques. Programs usually require 15 to 20 credits and must take a fire fighting examination with written and strength portions. Here is a list of the top firefighter academies and schools.

L.O. Brayton Fire School at Texas A & M University - Since 1929, L.O. Brayton Fire School at Texas A & M University has been helping Americans become the most knowledgeable and well-prepared firefighters. The university is one of the largest and most complex systems of higher education in the U.S. Almost 100,000 students attend the school each year and conduct more than $500 million in research.
Firefighter 1 Academy near San Leandro, CA - The Academy offers six courses in Fire Technology to get their Firefighter 1 Academy completion certificate. With additional educational requirements, six months of paid experience as a full-time firefighter or one year of experience as a volunteer firefighter, the individual will gain their full certificate.
Central Florida Fire Academy in Orlando, FL - The academy has been operating since 1977 and offers minimum standards classes and training for experienced firefighters and fire/rescue personnel. The academy offers courses for those looking to become driver/operators, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), firefighters, fire inspectors, fire instructors, fire investigators and fire officer.
Sycuan Firefighting Academy in El Cajon, CA - The program resembles a 21-day Marine Corps style “boot camp” for professional entry-level firefighters and job placement. Professional drill instructors take charge of 30 individuals and transform them into the best firefighters.
North Texas Fire Academy in Rockwall, TX - The academy was established in 1998 and has trained more than 1,300 students. The academy offers programs in Basic Fire Suppression, HAZMAT Awareness, Fire Instructors, among others.

-Article by Ryan Frank
Website

If you are interested in joining a fire academy and are looking to rent bunker gear please visit FireAcademyRentalas.com or call toll free at 866-370-7800.

How To Become A Firefighter – The Requirements

Feb 25, 2010 How to, Industry News Leave a comment

If you are serious about becoming a firefighter, it’s important you understand the requirements for this job. Naturally, firefighter requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but, as you will see, there are some commonalities. First, here are the requirements to become a firefighter in the New York City Fire Department (NYFD). To apply to take the next New York City Firefighter Exam, you must be between the ages of 17 and a half and 29.

How to become a Firefighter

To be hired as a New York City Firefighter
You must:
• Pass both the written and physical exams
• Pass a medical exam and background investigation
• Be at least 21 years of age
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Have at least 15 college semester credits earned as a result of satisfactory completion of course work at a college or university accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education or full time military service with an honorable discharge; or 6 months of full time, satisfactory paid work experience
• Hold a motor vehicle driver’s license valid in New York State
• Be a resident of one of the five boroughs of New York City, or live in Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk or Westchester County
• Be a Certified First Responder with Defibrillation (CFR-D)

The city of Piqua, Ohio Firefighter Requirements
In comparison, here are the firefighter requirements for a small city
• Take out an application
• Return application along with a copy of your birth certificate, copy of your diploma or equivalent, and a copy of your high school records
• Take a civil service test
• If you place in the top of the group according to how many openings there are, then you move on to the next steps
• Pass a physical fitness – agility test
• Pass a physical exam
• Pass a polygraph and psychological test
• Be interviewed by a board of Fire Officers
• Be interviewed by the City Manager, the Human Resource Director, and the Fire Chief

What do these Requirements have in Common?
• You must take and pass a physical exam
• You must take some form of written examination
• You must pass a physical agility test
• You must have at least a high school diploma
• You will most certainly have to undergo an oral interview

Which is Most Important?
Of these requirements, the most important is the written exam because if you do not score highly on it, you will be eliminated as a candidate for a firefighter position.

The Written Exam
Piqua, OH seems to have the easier exam as it requires only that the applicant pass a civil service. New York City’s requires the candidate to pass a written exam. In this case, the exam is designed specifically to test firefighter applicants. The biggest majority of municipalities also use a similar test designed specifically for firefighter candidates. These firefighter exams are tough. They typically take three hours or more to complete and consist of 100 of more questions. If you would like to see a sample of this test, I recommend the book Barron’s Firefighter Exams by James J. Murtagh, which includes samples of the NYC Fire Department Exam.

In Summary
The short answer to the question of what is required of a firefighter applicant is that you must be in good health, you must pass a tough written exam, you need to have a clean driver’s license, you need to be able to pass an agility test or a test that simulates the skills required to be a firefighter and you will need to do well in an oral interview.

Standing out from the Crowd
Getting a job as a firefighter is very, very competitive these days. If you want to stand out as a candidate – and win that coveted badge – you should have some college, especially courses related to firefighting. And it will most likely help if you have EMT or paramedic experience.

Article by Douglas Hanna
Website

NFPA 1851 VERIFICATION GUIDELINES

Jan 19, 2010 NFPA 1851 Leave a comment

NFPA 1851 Guide – VERIFICATION
Click to download a printable version of the NFPA 1851 guidelines on the overview of firefighter bunker gear.

RECORD KEEPING

Fire departments must maintain records on all ensemble and ensemble elements that are utilized by the department
Records include manufacturing detail, to whom the item is issued, advanced cleanings, advanced inspections, repairs, and dates of retirement and method of disposal