Crucial to keep your team safe
Keeping fire kit clean and structurally intact isn’t optional nowadays. It’s about keeping the team safe because today fire is far from the only risk they face.
Today’s firefighters face today’s risks
Historically, firefighters wore smokey and well-worn kit as a badge of honour, an indicator of experience. This is no-longer how firefighters and brigades can afford to think.
Keeping clothing clean and properly maintained is not only a way to extend the life of the clothing but also the firefighter, because without it firefighters will potentially be exposed to harm whilst fighting a fire and even whilst they’re not.
Today’s firefighters are being exposed to ever more complex materials when they attend incidents. Plastics, fillings, chemicals, foams – each has the potential to be harmful through air-borne particles that are inhaled, but there is also increasing evidence of the danger of particulate harm through the skin.
A structural fire suit and accessories like gloves and hoods are not just designed to protect the firefighter against heat and water. A modern fire suit has layers that allow heat and moisture from perspiration to escape but block harmful contaminates like chemicals, blood and indeed particulates from passing through the layers of the suit.
However, if a firefighter is exposed to those harmful particulates, they will remain on the outer layers of the suit as well as gloves, boots, fire hoods etc and these garments need to be de-contaminated. Contaminates will remain and have the potential to harm the firefighter as they return to the station or the next time any of the garments are worn.
Modern risks need a modern approach
At FlamePro we have developed a state-of-art Care and Maintenance package, specifically designed to meet the needs of modern day firefighters.
Our Care and Maintenance package is completely tailored to the needs of your organisation. With a network of 22 service depots across Britain and state-of-the-art online resources we know that we can put together the right Care and Maintenance package for you.
Our Care Package
FlamePro offers our customers a turnkey solution for the care or maintenance of their turn-out gear, keeping garments, clean, de-contaminated and free from defect.
We offer a seven-day SLA as standard on the laundry service, using the latest technology to scan and identify individual garments before processing so that we can create a history for each garment. Take a look at the various elements of our package.
Cleaning and de-contamination
Firefighter protective clothing must be clean to give optimum performance. Dirty fire suits can insulate less, conducting more heat and even electricity. They will also not shed liquids as effectively.
However, as we’ve highlighted above many contaminants are carcinogens and toxic skin chemicals which can endanger the life of the firefighter. Suits need to be washed and de-contaminated in line with prescribed protocols.
Maintenance
Every garment that is sent for cleaning or de-contamination also undergoes an inspection to look for garment damage, not only to the outer and seams of course, but also by inspecting the thermal liner and the moisture barrier layer.
With a set of agreed criteria, garments are ether repaired (this could include re-proofing as well) as part of the service, or if repairs are un-economic we can follow agreed procedures to either ask for authorisation to retire the garment and issue a replacement or replace it automatically as agreed.
If you want us to, we can hold a stock of garments in order to be able to immediately get a garment out to your firefighter.
Any repairs are made with the same care and to the same high standards we use when manufacturing the garment. It is vital that we maintain the integrity of the garment in order that it can do its job and protect the firefighter.
Wardrobe Management
You can manage everything by merely logging onto our dedicated Wardrobe Management Portal (WMP) to arrange collection of dirty or damaged kit.
Our WMP also gives you access to your account with the ability to drill-down to individual wearers, seeing the history of their garments with details on cleaning, repairs and maintenance. This crucial insight gives you real-time information and analysis into the garment lifecycle as well as analysis of the costs of cleaning and repairs.
The WMP also allows new kit orders, ordering garments to be manufactured and pulling garments from held-in-reserve stock. We can also manage all Rank Change Requests through the user profile within the WMP.
Call and chat to one of our friendly experts by calling +44 (0) 1332 341030.