By Barry S. Daskal and Dave Rodahan
The firefighter’s helmet is quite possibly the most identifiable symbol of our vocation and a quintessential piece of Americana. Since the 1700s, when Jacobus Turck1 first designed the “traditional” leather fire helmet with a wide brim and tall crown, the basic style he conceived has changed little, but manufacturing and materials have changed drastically.
At the turn of the 20th century, aluminum helmets became popular. Though they were molded to look like leather helmets, they were cheaper and did not protect against heat as well. Beginning in the 1970s, high-tech plastic and composite material helmets came into vogue. These helmets featured a suspension system and energy-absorbing foam impact liners; a face shield for partial eye and face protection from heat, sparks, liquids, and flying debris; and flame-resistant flaps to protect the ears and neck.2 By the late 1980s, the old-fashioned leather helmets began to fully incorporate the modern helmet advances when a Kevlar® inner shell and some other features of high-tech plastic helmets were added.
In the 21st century, we now have “traditional leather-style” helmets made of fully modern composite materials for the ultimate in design and safety. There’s no way the originator of the first fire helmet could have imagined what his creation would become.
WHAT’S ON YOUR HELMET?
Throughout these evolutions of design and materials, firefighters have customized their helmets to show their fire company/department affiliation, fireground function, personality, and so on. More importantly, firefighters have used their helmets to carry several different items that they use routinely on the fireground. The main advantage to carrying small useful items on your helmet is to keep them readily accessiblewithin arm’s reachwithout having to dig into pockets around your SCBA straps.
Rubber band. A couple of decades ago, being able to scrounge up an inner tube or flexible rubber of some type to cut up into strips to place around the helmet crown made you one of the heroes of your firehouse. Now rubber bands are easy to obtain. Several companies manufacture rubber bands specifically for this purpose and even package them as a kit with some rubber chocks and a flashlight, among other items.
The rubber band is actually the “platform” for everything else we carry on our helmets. There are two general ways to set up a rubber band on your helmet. The most common is to simply place it around the middle to lower portion of the helmet crown. This secures the tool because of the pressure of the band against the crown and because the tool rests on the helmet brim. With the modern-style helmets, you don’t have the traditional brim to support anything you place under the band, so you are relying mostly on tension. The other method is to place the band around the base of the crown right where it meets the brim. Rather than having the band only around the crown, the back portion of the band is stretched to the helmet hanging “D-ring” at the rear of the brim and is either looped directly through it or connected by a wire zip-tie. This allows you to easily store and retrieve door chocks.
Chocks (wood).This is the most common item carried on a firefighter’s helmet. You can make wood chocks easily and cheaply by cutting some scrap 2 × 4s into four- or five-inch lengths and then cutting them lengthwise across at a 45° angle. A standard eight-foot length can make more than 20 chocks. You can carry them many different ways on your helmet (photo 1).
 (1) Photos by Jessica M. Daskal. |
Chocks (rubber).Rubber chocks serve the same function as wooden chocks, but they tend to be more flexible and easier to “wedge.” That’s an added bonus when using them to chock an open sprinkler head.
Chocks (nails).Eight (or 10) penny nails are one of the least expensive chocks to use, but there is often confusion on how to effectively use them. Place the nail between the doorjamb and the door (the head of the nail in the jamb and the point of the nail in a screw head on the door hinge) and pull the door inward slightly to set the nail in place. The nail is long enough and strong enough to maintain a purchase in the door to prevent it from falling shut but small enough to forcibly pull the door shut to isolate you from fire conditions. The main drawback to using the nails is that it is extremely difficult to remove a nail from the crown of your helmet with gloves on. That’s the main advantage to carrying several nailswhen you reach for them, you’ll come up with more than one.
Flashlights. Some lights are designed to angle along the crown on the side of the helmet; on the traditional-style leather helmet, the lights can rest on the brim. On helmets with the half-face visors, you can fit tubular or mini two- or three-cell flashlights (photo 2). I’ve actually seen some firefighters with the “headlamp” style of lighting attached to their helmets, but in general this style of light is more often used in wildland firefighting or in technical rescue applications.
 (2) |
Helmet-mounted lights have many advantages during interior operations. They are lightweight, are hands-free, and focus the beam of light in the direction the firefighter is looking. The only advice I have on the use of the helmet-mounted light (or any light, for that matter) is that when you are searching for fire in a dark and heated environment, leave the flashlight off. Illuminating the smoke surrounding you doesn’t help; finding the glow of the fire is what you need to see.
Long flat-blade screwdriver. With a length of eight inches or so, it has a multitude of uses such as manipulating the locking mechanism on a car trunk, gaining a purchase on a double-hung window to slide open the latch, or prying leverage when you need a little more reach/length than you get with a standard pocket-size screwdriver. The screwdriver can either pierce the helmet band, or you can flip it through the band and rest it on the helmet brim.
THE CONDITION OF YOUR HELMET
NFPA Standard 1971, Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting(revised in 2007), lists in detail all the protective features and minimum requirements for the design, performance, testing, and certification of fire helmets along with all the other parts of a firefighter’s ensemble.3 Regardless of what front piece you have or what stickers or tools are on your helmet, you must constantly inspect and maintain your helmet in proper working condition. Having a dirty or “salty looking” helmet can compromise its safety features and overall integrity (photo 3).
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KEEPING YOUR HELMET ON YOUR HEAD
Let’s talk, firefighter to firefighter. There’s this amazing invention that is a part of your helmet, and it is meant to keep your helmet properly positioned where it actually belongson your head. It’s called a chinstrap. Now I am sure some of you are reading this with raised eyebrows, going, “Huh?” Yes, some firefighters (of varying ages and experience) simply insist on not wearing their chinstraps in the proper fashion. I can look around any fire scene in my region and see more than half (not a scientific poll, I assure you) of the members on the fireground with their chinstraps secured neatly around the rear brims of their helmets. I’ve heard pretty much every argument against chinstraps: “They are uncomfortable,” “They’re not necessary,” “I can’t work the buckle with my gloves on,” and “I just don’t like it,” to name a few. Too many firefighters rely on their ratchet system (if so equipped), so they “don’t need it.”
To me, there is no valid reason for not wearing your chinstrap. Having your helmet fall off while advancing a hoseline or losing it while you are performing the primary search not only slows down the entire operation, but it also compromises the safety and efficiency of the entire company. If logic doesn’t work and you don’t care about your health and safety, how about thinking of your fellow firefighters who may potentially have to rescue and remove you and treat your injuries? Will you (or your family) receive your full benefits? After all, the department issued you the proper gear and taught you how to wear it, but you were negligent by not wearing it properly.
Your chinstrap should be kept in a “ready position.” Fasten the clasp with the strap presized a few inches larger than it would be when you secure it in place. Leave the remaining or excess tab section on the long side of the chinstrap hanging with enough strap remaining to grasp it with one hand (photo 4).
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With a traditional-style helmet with the flip-down eye shields, adjust the chinstrap length the same way as above: flip the eye shields down, slide the chinstrap up over the eye shields, and flip the eye shields back up into position. With this technique, when you reach up in front of you and flip the eye shields down, the chinstrap falls right into position (photos 5, 6, and 7).
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The bottom line is, WEAR YOUR CHINSTRAP!
GOING TO WORK
There are many different ways to don your personal protective equipment (PPE). One of the most effective is to put it on in the following order:
1. Don the hood completely and leave it in this position.
2. Don the boots and bunker pants.
3. Don the radio holster (if equipped).
4. Don the bunker coat, and secure it completely.
5. Slide the hood to the base of your neck.
6. Don the helmet with the chinstrap loose (as described above) and the ear flaps down.
7. Don the gloves.
8. Don the SCBA, leaving the regulator and face piece attached together but off your face.
This procedure gives your hood the best chance of staying under your bunker coat. You may need to change the last three steps, depending on where your department stores the SCBA.
Once you arrive at the front of the fire building or the fire apartment, kneel down and place your tools or hose between the wall and you or under the knee closest to the wall. This will allow other members to pass by you without tripping.
Following are the two main methods for donning your hood, face piece, and helmet:
Method #1
1. Turn the SCBA on.
2. Keeping the face piece and regulator together and using your LEFT hand, bring the face piece to your face, leaving the netting in place (photo 8).
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3. Place the netting on your face, and hold it in this position.
4. Using your RIGHT hand, remove your helmet, allowing the chinstrap to pass between your left arm and your body (photos 9, 10).
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5. Rest the chinstrap in the crease of your elbow. This will keep your helmet off the ground (photo 11).
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6. Don the face piece/regulator combo, and ensure a good seal (photo 12).
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7. Using your right hand, pinch the hood near your throat and pull it away from your neck (photo 13).
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8. Place your left pointer finger inside your hood, followed by your right pointer finger, and slowly bring the hood up and over the top of the face piece.
9. Bring your fingers around the face piece and down to your chin.
10. Grab your helmet, and bring it slowly up to your head, allowing the chinstrap to pass between your low-pressure hose and your body (photo 14).
 (14) |
11. Cinch the chinstrap taut (photo 15).
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Method #2
1. Turn the SCBA on.
2. Remove your helmet, placing it under your knee, and rest your knee on top to prevent your helmet from being kicked away from you or otherwise lost (photo 16).
 (16) |
3. Slide the hood down around your neck.
4. Disconnect your face piece from your regulator (photo 17).
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5. Don your face piece with the low-pressure hose and regulator still disconnected (photo 18).
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6. Redon the hood (photo 19).
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7. With your face piece on and your hood pulled up, angle your head downward, holding your helmet on the same angle with the flaps down and the chinstrap hanging forward. Don your helmet with the flaps down, and grasp the chinstrap on both sides and pull it over the cone of the face piece and then down into its proper position under your chin (photos 20, 21).
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8. Grasp the excess length of the chinstrap and pull it tightly, securing your helmet in position (photo 22).
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9. Connect the regulator to the face piece (photo 23).
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PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Here is a good, simple rainy day drill: Gather all your members around on the apparatus floor with their gear. Have everyone explain what they have on their helmet, why they carry it, and what the applications are for it. Have them get dressed from street shoes to “on air.” When this evolution is completed, have the member doff his helmet, hood, and face piece and repeat donning them again. Do this several times so that the procedure becomes ingrained in them.
As the members become more proficient and more confident in the hood-face piece-helmet evolution, you can begin timing them from street shoes to “on air” (FAA standards for aircraft rescue firefighters dictate you must go from street shoes to “on air” in less than two minutes; the best time I know of is 47 seconds). The key point of the drill, though, is to focus on the hood-face piece-helmet procedure.
Currently in the fire service, we are making a concerted effort to focus on getting back to the basics. Most take that to mean stretching and moving a handline or raising and climbing a ground ladder. We need to go even more basic than that: setting up our personal protective equipment in a functional way and actually putting it on. Regardless of what you carry on your helmet or what donning procedure you use, be consistent and practice it!
ENDNOTES
1. Corbett’s Trivia, www.Fire Engineering.com, May 29, 2007.
2. Public Broadcasting System, Nova Online, “Escape through time,” Lee & Meyer, www.pbs.org/wgbh/Nova/escape/time.html, November 2000.
3. NFPA 1971, sections 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, www.nfpa.org.
Barry S. Daskalis a police officer/aircraft rescue firefighter with the Port Authority of NY & NJ Police Department at John F. Kennedy International Airport in NYC. He is also a certified EMT-Critical Care and clinical lab instructor at the Nassau County (NY) EMS Academy. He has previously served as a police officer with the NYC Police Department and as a supervising fire alarm dispatcher with the Fire Department of New York. He has been a volunteer firefighter since 1990 and is a member of the Wantagh (NY) Fire Department.
Dave Rodahan is a paid firefighter in a large municipal fire department. He is also a volunteer firefighter/EMT with the Wantagh (NY) Fire Department. He previously served as a K9 police officer with the New York State Parks Police.
