Essay On Firefighting

Firefighting has been a thankless job since the beginning. It started out as a group of people with one objective; to extinguish a fire. They did not worry about the consequences or repercussions from not having any personal protective equipment. The equipment to help keep all firemen safe has drastically changed from being non-existence to the upmost importance. Without safety equipment, firemen cannot perform their job to the best of their ability. Firemen use turnout gear which has three major parts; helmet, jacket, and SCBA.
Helmets are used to protect the head from falling objects or hot embers. Helmets started out as nothing more than a leather hard hat made for construction which doesn’t provide much protection or safety for the people

This breathing apparatus is worn on the backs of firemen providing them with adequate air to get their job done effectively. These devices were not very effective at first. “Some tales say firemen would grow out beards and soak them in water. While in the fire they would breathe into their beards to use as a filter” (Hasenmeier, 2008 para. 6). Firemen then started to use rebreathers which were adopted from similar miner’s equipment used in the early 1920’s (Lee & Meyer, 2000). This design failed because of how fragile they were and how complex they were to control. In the 1970’s they started a design that is like the ones used today. In 1982 NFPA, National Fire Protection Agency, set the standard which required all tanks to have at least 100 liters of positive airflow per minute for 30 minutes (Lee & Meyer, 2000). Today, firefighters use a light weight and ergonomically designed SCBA in conjunction with a full-face mask. An interesting feature of the SCBA that was standardized by the NFPA is PASS, which stands for personal alert safety system. If a fireman becomes unconscious or stops moving for a designated amount of time it sounds a loud tone that helps others locate the fireman in distress (2008).
Fire equipment has come a long way. Safety has become standardized which has helped reduce the health risks that are associated with fighting fires.