Station wear

[Dubya]

So our department is looking at getting "dress" uniforms - in our parlance that'll be "station wear" type shirts, pants, belt, shoulder boards. We got some bumph in the mail from Carleton uniforms, but their stuff is all Polyester/Cotton blend. When I dug further it seemed that every supplier offers P/C blend in fire uniforms.

Am I missing something here? I thought Polyester was bad medicine under fire gear. Are blends okay, or are there better offerings that I'm missing?

[oldboot]

So our department is looking at getting "dress" uniforms - in our parlance that'll be "station wear" type shirts, pants, belt, shoulder boards. We got some bumph in the mail from Carleton uniforms, but their stuff is all Polyester/Cotton blend. When I dug further it seemed that every supplier offers P/C blend in fire uniforms.

Am I missing something here? I thought Polyester was bad medicine under fire gear. Are blends okay, or are there better offerings that I'm missing?

Trust me; if it gets hot enough under your bunker gear to melt that polly/cotton shirt a nomex one will not save your ass ether.

[Dubya]

Trust me; if it gets hot enough under your bunker gear to melt that polly/cotton shirt a nomex one will not save your ass ether.Granted, but I was under the impression that polyester was actually a threat at temperatures that are otherwise survivable. That is certainly what's in the PPE training materials, and the behaviour of polyester at certain temperatures comes up periodically in reports on firefighter injuries and fatalities. I haven't seen anything on blends of polyester, so I thought maybe it was a 100%-versus-blend thing.

[itsnotahobby]

Granted, but I was under the impression that polyester was actually a threat at temperatures that are otherwise survivable. That is certainly what's in the PPE training materials, and the behaviour of polyester at certain temperatures comes up periodically in reports on firefighter injuries and fatalities. I haven't seen anything on blends of polyester, so I thought maybe it was a 100%-versus-blend thing.

It is a blend thing. We have the option of the blend wear or the NFPA wear. No one takes the NFPA wear as it is alot heavier material and as well much hotter during normal wear.

I'm confused though are you talking station wear uniforms or dress uniforms????

[colin911]

Our station wear is Nomex and we have no choice but to order it and wear it. Our dress uniform is a ployester/cotton blend that you wouldn't want to wear under your bunker gear. The Nomex is expensive, but in my opinion, worth it.

[Bubba]

Hey Dubya,
I've been doing "HOT" work for years in a glass factory. We use only 100% cotton there. As cool as it is to watch yourself spontaneously combust when wearing any amount of poly blend there, I wouldn't expect this would be an issue when using your turnouts and full PPE.

The worst I've noted was once on a structure fire, we had all just received new dress shirts, the call came in during a function. Those of us that didnt remove the dress shirt noticed some off gassing during rehab, smelled kinda like plastic and made your eyes water a bit, but no big deal. Maybe a wash before use would have prevented this ?.

[Dubya]

We presently have no uniform at all; what we're looking for is something to wear to any occasion where a uniform might be appropriate. We're inclined to the "station wear" style - but all the "station wear" I've found thus far seems to contain polyester.

Since we're an all-volunteer department, we're always on call, and we've been paged out during a department function more than once. It would be ideal to have something that we could throw our gear over without worry.

[Roadwarrior]

Is this what you're looking at purchasing??

http://www.carletonuniforms.com/fire.aro#special

[Dubya]

That's the style, and is in fact one of the options. I was hoping to find that style in cotton, though.

[Roadwarrior]

Cotton may be cooler to wear but it will not hold it's shape. It's the polyester mix that makes it look good and helps resist wrinkles. Go to your closet and find a t-shirt or a pair of khaki's and see how how many wrinkles there are in them. At the end of the day, the 100% cotton clothes are just plain sloppy.

[irsqyu]

Maybe we should all support the Firehall.com people. I added up the same package and it is approx $13 more. I'll bet the price would even be better should a whole department buy station wear!:hmmmm2::hello:

http://firehallstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=31

[dirkjaniak]

The Edmonton fire department is using station gear from Lion Apparel and I personally like it a lot. It loocks professional even after you washed and dried it. The material is AFAIK Nomex and a Poly/ Cotton mix and even under bunker gear good to wear.

Our supplier is http://www.rockymountainphoenix.com/products.php?subcat=10 but I bet you can order that stuff from pretty much any fire gear supplier.

Cheers,

DJ

[DCCHam]

Is this what you're looking at purchasing??

http://www.carletonuniforms.com/fire.aro#special


That's pretty much the style and colour we have. We went with the same supplier that HRM (Halifax) has, and the only difference between our uniform and thiers is the crest on the sleeve.

We looked at going cotton as an option, but seeing as almost every career FD and most EHS companies use the blended uniforms, we decided to go the same. The other reason was right in 'Dubya's post.....we're a volunteer department, so our members usually show up wearing whatever they had on at the time of the page....which could be anything from nylon, right down through a pair of shorts. As long as they have all their PPE on, there shouldn't be an issue of what the material is underneath. If it gets hot enough to get through your bunker gear, the difference between a blended material and 100% cotton won't matter much at all.