By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor
 Photo Emergencyphoto.com |
CHARLOTTE, NC — Take a look at any fire department’s budget these days and you’ll see how much PPE has developed in recent years.
Improvements in design and technology mean turnout gear has become a major investment – and with that comes a greater awareness of its importance, both in selection and maintenance.
This trend has led to the creation of the Fire Service PPE Symposium, with the inaugural event taking place in Charlotte, NC, in March.
It aims to bring together leaders from the fire service, manufacturing and industry to provide attendees with the knowledge needed to properly select and maintain PPE.
Robert Tutterow, vice-president of the Fire Industry Equipment Research Organization, which is organizing the event, said it will enable the fire service to meet and discuss issues with component manufacturers, end product manufacturers, testers, researchers, and other firefighters.
“There’s nothing like getting a group of people together who are really interested in a subject and allowing them to network,” he said.
“So much information and ideas can come out of something like this.”
Replicate success
Tutterow said he hopes the symposium can replicate the success of the Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s annual Apparatus Specification & Vehicle Maintenance Symposium, which is now in its 21st year.
“That event brings together a lot of people responsible for speccing out and purchasing apparatus, and we want to give people the information needed to do that for PPE,” he said.
“I think what it’s done is put together a core grass-roots knowledge base out there in the field.”
While the fire service has always given apparatus heavy focus, Tutterow said, it is only relatively recently that PPE has gained similar levels.
“Focus on PPE has grown over time, especially since the mid-1990s,” he said. “I think people started to realize there was a big need to take care of PPE, especially as it is a significant part of a fire department’s budget today.
“The price of PPE has also soared since then. It’s become a substantial investment for a fire department .”
Task force
In preparing for the symposium, Tutterow, a health and safety officer at the Charlotte Fire Department, helped to put a task force together to identify the main issues that needed to be addressed.
Among the many topics to be discussed at the event are the selection, care, and maintenance of turnout gear, SCBA and CBRN PPE; electronics and PPE; testing; visibility and limitations of PPE; and legal issues related to NFPA non-compliance.
“We wanted to cover as much as we can in this first symposium,” Tutterow said.
“We want people to take as much knowledge away with them as possible, not just the selection of PPE but also the entire aspects of PPE, everything you need to consider about it.”
Tutterow said one of the biggest gaps in knowledge among the fire service generally relates to the care and maintenance of PPE, as outlined in NFPA 1851.
“Awareness is growing but there’'s still a huge void out there,” he said. “It’s something departments have not typically budgeted for, which compounds the problem.”
- The Fire PPE Symposium takes place March 9-11 at the Omni Charlotte Hotel. For more details, go to Fireppesymposium.com.