INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Safety rolled out three new SCBA products at this year’s FDIC. The new offerings were driven in part by the new NFPA 1981 and 1982 standards set to take effect in August.
Facepieces sold after August will have to meet more stringent high-flame and radiant-heat testing than did those sold under the 2007 standards.
“The (facepiece) lens was the most challenging from an engineering perspective,” said Jeff Emery, Scott’s global marketing manager for fire services.
Scott tested the units during FDIC’s flashover training evolutions. None of the facepieces failed or had to be removed from service, Emery said.
Scott also has a new voice amplifier, which connects to the facepiece.
The battery life on the new voice amplifier is about 50 hours, an improvement over the 30 hours of life in previous models.
Other changes to NFPA requirements that are incorporated into Scott’s new products are the low-air alarm sounding when air reaches 33 percent — up from the current 25 percent requirement, and a new universal PASS alarm sound, which will be different from any on the market now and the same across all manufacturers.
What firefighters will see the most change in is Scott’s X3 SCBA harness. Although they did not remove any weight from previous models, the pack has been designed to redistribute the weight from the shoulders to the lower back.
This, said Emery, will make it feel lighter to the wearer. The pack also has some articulation near the top, which is designed to improve range of motion when doing tasks like climbing or working overhead.
The pack’s gauge console has a smaller profile and is angled to fit in a cupped hand. It also has an external heads-up display to allow officers or other firefighters to quickly see how much air a firefighter has left.
The voice amplifier and facepiece are available as retrofits for Scott SCBA meeting 2007 and 2002 NFPA standards.