Firefighting PPE: Fact, Fiction, and Crossing the Barriers to Reality
Lieutenant Jim Reidy, San Antonio (TX) Fire Department.
Thursday, April 23, 1:30-3:15 p.m., Rooms 243-245.
“Dirty PPE Is Not Cool, But Dangerous!”
“As a firefighter, I’ve always felt the end users, the line firefighters, have been under-informed and under-represented when it comes to their firefighting personal protective equipment (PPE),” said Lieutenant Jim Reidy (San Antonio (TX) Fire Department). He presented “Firefighting PPE: Fact, Fiction, and Crossing the Barriers to Reality” at FDIC International, Thursday afternoon. It’s his first presentation at the conference, which he has attended since the mid-1990s.
He was first asked to present on this topic at the 2013 IAFF Redmond Symposium. The presentation has evolved into a look at a wider range of PPE protection issues, along with some answers about perceptions firefighters have about their gear.
“As a result of a surge in job-related cancer cases in San Antonio, along with the death of a firefighter who worked for me, I added a section to the presentation that deals with facts, statistics, research, strategies, and personal stories related to cancer on our job,” Reidy explained.
After attending this class, a firefighter should have a better understanding of how his PPE gear works to protect him and have realistic expectations of that protection, according to Reidy. “They should understand why dirty PPE is not cool, but dangerous.”
He’s spent much of his career as an advocate for firefighter health and safety on the local and state levels, and at the national level on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) committees.
“I’m just like the people attending the presentations, Reidy says. “I get up and down off the ladder truck every third day. I got involved because I saw the disparity between the people that actually do the job every day and the representation on the various committees that oversee specifications, standards, and laws that affect our gear and equipment. I’m very fortunate and blessed that I have been chosen to fill this role and not only represent firefighters, but also become educated about our gear and then given the ability to pass that information on to the end user.”
Regarding the FDIC International experience, Reidy says, “Regardless of how long you’ve been on the job and what rank you’ve achieved, it has something for everyone.” The education side has a wide diversity of subjects presented by top people from all over the country. The trade show is the “see everything there is to see” for services, equipment, PPE, uniforms, vehicles, and apparatus.
