ELKTON, Md. — W.L. Gore & Associates issued a firefighter product safety alert regarding incidents of seam-tape separation in turnout gear in North America. Gore has initiated a program to fix the gear.
The company identified the affected Gore products as both Gore and non-Gore moisture barriers that have been stored in its original packaging for three or more years before being issued or worn.
No seam tape separation was observed for turnout gear using Gore moisture barriers that had been removed from its packaging before being stored.
Gore determined that the Gore-Seam tape affected has been used with Crosstech moisture barriers (Type 2C), Crosstech black moisture barriers (Type 2F) and Gore RT7100 moisture barriers (Type 3B and Type 3D). The Gore-Seam tape used with Crosstech three-layer moisture barrier (Type 4A) is unaffected.
The company says it has not received any reports of adverse effects from this issue.
However, it has implemented a remediation program for turnout gear with Gore moisture barriers. The program involves a newly developed Gore-Seam tape that is unaffected by the storage interactions causing this issue.
Evaluation of this issue outside North America is underway.