Sandy Hook Firefighters Acquire New Turnout Gear

By Andrew Gorosko

When responding to emergency calls, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company members now will be wearing new turnout gear designed to better protect them from the hazards of firefighting.

Firefighters at the company’s Riverside Road firehouse recently displayed that new gear, which had already become slightly soiled when they extinguished a structure fire that destroyed a shed at a Jeremiah Road property earlier that day.

The new mustard-colored firefighting garments bear horizontal rows of highly reflective silver-and-green stripes to make the firefighters highly visible. The heavy-duty pants have patches of a very tough fabric, known as DragonHide, affixed to the knees/shins area and the coats’ cuffs to protect firefighters’ legs and wrists from cuts and abrasions.

Fire Chief Bill Halstead explained that the fire company received a federal firefighting grant that provided approximately $100,000 to the fire company, covering most of the cost of outfitting company members with new garb.

The acquisition will provide certain firefighting clothing for 50 company members overall, including coats, pants, helmets, gloves, boots, and fire-resistant hoods.

The outer shell of the firefighting garb is made of a very tough fabric that provides suitable protection for firefighters working in hazardous environments, Chief Halstead said. The clothing is stain-resistant and washable.

Some of the firefighting garb that the Sandy Hook firefighters acquired contains an “integrated harness” which is built into the pants of the uniform.

When that harness is attached to a ladder upon which a firefighter is standing, the harness provides fall protection for that person by physically linking the person to the ladder, explained John Plofkin of Shipman’s Fire Equipment Company, Inc, the firm which sold the new turnout gear to the fire company.

Having that safety harness within the pants eliminates the need for firefighters to wear external safety belts when on ladders, said Chief Halstead. The integrated harness is made of durable Kevlar.

As required by law, all the firefighters’ coats contain a “drag/rescue” device. That device simplifies the retrieval of an injured firefighter from a hazardous situation, allowing the injured firefighter to be directly dragged out of danger.

When they are used in tandem, the safety harness in one firefighter’s pants can be physically linked to the drag/rescue device in an injured firefighter’s coat, allowing just one person to pull the other person away from danger, rather than requiring two people to make such a rescue, explained Mr Plofkin.

Considering that firefighters’ lives depend on having reliable gear, the firefighting garb does not come cheap.

The cost for an individual firefighter’s gear including coat, pants, boots, hood, helmet, gloves, and airpack approaches $8,000, Mr Plofkin said. The airpack is the costliest item at $5,500. A fully dressed firefighter wears about 75 pounds of equipment.

Chief Halstead stressed that the gear recently acquired by Sandy Hook firefighters employs advanced technology to protect firefighters’ lives.