- Author
- Brown, H.
- Title
- Firefighter Turnout Coat Configurations: Performance Data for Acquisition Decisions.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NISTIR 7141, February 2005, 35 p.
- Keywords
- turnout coats | protective clothing | protective equipment | fire fighters | fire safety | decision making | cost effectiveness | performance evaluation | tests | fibers | fabrics | test methods | heat resistance | tactile performance | comfort | durability
- Identifiers
- multiattribute decision analysis; performance data; selection criteria; available performance measures and sources; introduction to performance tests; performance test and measure descriptions; summary of performance measures; data set organization and collection; composition of fire turnout coats, by component; fiber and fabrics in the component-level data set; Southern Mills Data Set; Dupont Data Set; complete turnout coat performance data for internet decision tool
- Abstract
- This report describes the essential components of turnout coats, specifies the relevant performance tests, and documents the collected performance data that can support cost-effective acquisition and utilization decisions. A turnout coat is a system of separate components. Each component has many commercially available alternatives. Critical measures of performance are described. For each performance measure, the test method, reference, and significance are all explained. These measures fall into four categories: 1. Heat Resistance: Includes measures of resistance to heat and flame such as thermal protective performance (TPP), thermal efficiency (derived), and vertical flame char length. 2. Tactile Performance: Includes measures of weight, thickness, and bending stiffness. 3. Durability: Includes measures of outer shell durability, lightfastness, abrasion (two types), trap tear, and grab strength. 4. Comfort: Includes measures of breathability, face cloth friction, and face cloth wicking. These performance characteristics are key to making selection decisions. Data on the performance characteristics have been compiled along with in this report. There are three distinct data sets in this report: a comprehensive universe of all suit components gathered without corresponding performance measures; and two data sets including performance data provided by Dupont and Southern Mills. The decision support tool will help fire departments apply these data to their turnout coat selection procedures. The conceptual framework is the Analytic Hierarchy Process, a multiattribute model developed in the operations research field. The tool will implement the Analytic Hierarchy Process to help fire departments select the best turnout coats for their applications, given the relative importance they place on each of the performance characteristics presented here, and taking into account the acquisition cost. The software will be available directly on the Internet in a convenient, readily accessible form.