Protective Clothing

Crash Rescue Gear

Crash Rescue gear is used only for very specialized situations, and are therefor not used by this department. These aluminized suits are normally used where large amounts of radiant heat must be dealt with, such as when flammable liquids burn, or for aircraft crashes where lots of fuel is often involved. They are usually found at airport and refinery fire departments. They have special reflective faceshields, hoods, gloves and boots.

Proximity Suit	Crash Rescue Suit	Approach Suit	Entry Suit

crash rescue suit photos: W.S. Darley & Co.

Putting a reflective coating on standard bunker gear would make it more effective in insulating from radiant heat, but this reflective coating is easily abraded and worn off. Most fire departments that use crash rescue gear have training suits that they practice in, reserving their real suits for actual alarms. This way, they preserve the reflective coating as long as possible. Even doing this, it often means that the suits need replacing every couple of years.

These suits come in three types, each type having more insulation but giving the wearer less mobility:

• Proximity and Crash Rescue suits are for working in the general area of one of these fires.

• The Approach suit allows the wearer to be close to, but not in, a fire. It protects the wearer from ambient temperatures of 200°F (93°C) or radiant heat to 2000°F (1090°C).

• The Entry suit allows the wearer to go directly into total flame engulfment or a furnace for a short period of time. It allows short periods of exposure to ambient temperatures of 1500°F (815°C), and prolonged exposure to radiant heat to 2000°F (1090°C).

Note that under these suits, the firefighter is wearing an SCBA, a helmet, and most likely a second layer protective undersuit.