i wish it was feasible for everyone to take both sets of gear to every job
Not everyone has both sets of gear which is what the issue here really is. The majority of people here are saying that they want the choice of wearing their PBI to things that dont require PBI. Why shouldn't everyone have that choice?
Its just old men attitudes, remember most of the people making the choices for us haven't been BA operators since Overalls were all the fad.
Ah well, we all had the same issues when Nomex first came in, "you can't wear it, you can't wear it" Now thats all we wear....give it time, they will get over it.
Whats your point here? I dont think there are any old men saying don't wear PBI when you're doing BA. There are some old men that rightly say you dont HAVE to wear PBI when you're doing BA.
Nomex is worn everywhere now because EVERYONE in the brigade can wear it to everything. At this stage not everyone can wear PBI to everything by the very fact they're not issued with it. Why shouldn't everyone have that choice if as some people claim on here that it provides better protection. Shouldn't everyone have the very best possible protection regardless of the cost? The fact is at some stage there needs to be a decision that any particular bit of equipment is adequate for the function it is intended to provide. Nomex/Proban provides adequate protection for responses to MVA, grass fires, external BA and even internal BA in many instances. So if Nomex/Proban is adequate for MVA's and everyone can wear Nomex/Proban then why shouldn't everyone wear Nomex/Proban? PBI was given to BA trained people for use with BA. If it was intended for anything else it would have been issued to everyone else.
One set of pants....and a rural or structure jacket choice when it comes to dressing.
So what your arguing over here is just a pair of pants? At the moment you have both rural and structural gear its just that they have different sets of pants? Personally I wouldnt want a liner in my rural pants so what we have at the moment is what I want. Two sets of gear with two different functions. I see that as a good thing.
May look silly to some but I guess were not out there to look good but to protect ourselves to the best standard available.
The majority of posts makes some reference to looks in one way or another, and I agree it does look good. But I suspect peoples passion for the uniform and being able to wear it to everything has more to do with wanting to look like a beefcake MFS firefighter and less like a scrawny hick than for functional requirements. If it was about the functional performance of this uniform at "non rural" incidents then people should be jumping up and down about why doesn't EVERY fire fighter have it! But the people with the uniform are more fixated on their own looks rather than the safety of other members.
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