Performance assessment of the firefighting personal protective tunic

摘要

Although there have been reported cases of rapid improvement in the research and development of materials used for the betterment of firefighting tunics in developed countries, however, in developing countries, especially in Nigeria, the dearth of such research and development has led to the loss of lives and properties on numerous occasions due to the use of substandard firefighting tunics when combating fire. Hence, it is necessary to carry out a performance assessment on the firefighting tunic available in Nigeria. The safety of the firefighters is important as it is only then that they can fully carry out their duties and tasks. Of all the products that make up a complete assemble of the firefighters' Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), it is their personal protective tunic that was employed for this research. The city of Ota in Nigeria was used as a case study due to the high concentration of industries and teeming population which makes it a target for pipeline explosions amongst others. Having a single fire station in the city, a sample of the firefighters' personal protective tunic was obtained and specified experiments were carried out to determine its thermophysical and elemental properties with a goal to understand its quality and standard. The research seeks to provide useful information to stakeholders in the firefighting industry on the standard of protective tunics used in fire stations.