What You Wear Underneath Your Gear Matters

Protecting firefighters from burn injury risk is a top priority. Having standards ensures the different types of gear adequately meet performance requirements. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, NFPA 1971, Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Firefighting and Proximity Firefighting, and NFPA 1977, Standard on Protective Clothing and Equipment for Wildland Firefighting and Urban Interface Firefighting, focus on the performance of firefighter protective clothing worn in structural and wildland scenarios respectively, but do not mandate what garments are worn next to the skin. Anecdotal evidence suggests that what firefighters wear under their gear can impact burn injury, but minimal scientific data is available to support these findings. Our study aims to test the effect of different undergarments in realistic flashover events on a test manikin. Manikins were outfitted with sensors to measure the effects of a flashover environment and underwent a review by a verified burn center team to correlate manikin damage to injuries that would occur in a real event. The study focuses on understanding how the increased use of synthetic undergarments affects firefighter safety. This research is vital as firefighters often wear synthetic undergarments without the ability to change quickly during unpredictable incidents, and previous findings may not be applicable to their experiences.