By The National Volunteer Fire Council
On November 24, 2008, a provision in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control (MUTCD), administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), goes into effect requiring public safety officers, including volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel responding to an incident on the side of a federal aid highway, to wear a safety vest that meets the Performance Class II or III requirements of the American National Standards Institute/International Safety Equipment Association (ANSI/ISEA) 107-2004 publication.
Minimum requirements for ANSI/ISEA compliant garments include use of fluorescent yellow-green, orange-red, or red background material with 360 degree retroflective visibility. Garments should be labeled as compliant with ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 or ANSI/ISEA 207-2006. Many volunteer agencies are already using these garments, which have been on the market for several years.
Firefighters directly engaged in fire suppression should not wear safety vests, as they could catch on fire and/or melt if exposed to flame. In July, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) submitted public comment to FHWA requesting that an allowance be made for firefighters exposed to fire or flame in accordance with National Fire Protection Standards.
The FHWA rule applies only to responses on federal aid highways, but the NVFC recommends that volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel responding to any roadside incident wear MUTCD-approved safety vests. While there is no federal funding set aside specifically to help local agencies purchase safety vests, there are several grant programs, including the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which offer funding that could be used by volunteer fire and EMS departments to purchase safety vests.