Chief Mike Piper of the Arvada (CO) Fire Protection District in "How We Got Burned" (Fire Engineering, November 2011) states: "When it comes to firefighting gloves and hoods, thicker might be better …. The firefighter wearing gloves that were thin but still compliant with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1851, Standard on Selection, Care and Maintenance of Protective Ensemble for Structural Firefighting and Proximity Firefighting, sustained much more serious burns to his hands than the firefighter wearing thicker gloves." He then goes on to correctly observe that the exact thermal exposure to the hands experienced by the two injured firefighters cannot be determined; yet, he still maintained that the apparent thickness of the protective ensemble cannot be dismissed as a factor.
As a manufacturer of structural gloves compliant with NFPA 1971, Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, I can understand that in this article where a wind-driven fire contributed to serious hand burns, the thickness of personal protective equipment would become an overriding consideration in the post-incident review.
However, when considering the complexity of the moving hand itself and the wide and varying range of threats to hands on the fireground, a truly successful glove design and construction strategy must be significantly more complex than just a basic consideration for the general thickness of materials.
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