BY BILL GUSTIN
A modern firefighter's helmet that meets all of today's safety standards is marvelously strong, lightweight, and protective. But all the high-tech design, materials, and testing that go into a helmet can't save a firefighter's life if it doesn't stay on his head. This thought occurred to me while I was watching several hours of fireground footage during the production of my training videos. I was dismayed to see how many firefighters lose their helmets because they remove their chin straps or fasten them around the back brim.
I became a believer in helmet chin straps long before I became a firefighter. In the early 1960s, my dad, William Gustin, a lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department, decided to "retire" his old leather helmet and replace it with a new, lightweight helmet made of a plastic and fiber composite. His new helmet was equipped with a chin strap-something rarely seen in Chicago in those days.
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