Helmets

[Mike]

Our equipment officer is very stubbourn when it comes to ordering equipment. It must be on his "approved by state" list, and preferably unless there is a upcry from the group, the cheapest.

What are peoples thoughts on the various types of structural helmet out there???

Personally I think Pacific's are nasty, for reasons im not going into at the moment.... but scott aspen (getting a little cheaper and nastier) and the Cairns 660 ( a little heavy)I dont think are to bad.....

[CFS_Firey]

We use Bullard helmets. (I'm sorry, I don't know what model)
They are fairly heavy, but I like them, they feel like they offer better protection, and weight isn't really an issue if you take your helmet off when you're having a break (like you should)...
As for price, I don't suspect they aren't cheap...

[backburn]

I used to purchas the Cairns 660 but told it was too expensive for us, but now I can not get any as good only cheap and nasty.

Need the cairns 660 cheaper

:-o :-D :roll:

[strikeathird]

I will not wear anything other than a Cairns660!!!


No price is greater than the safety of ones life!

[CFS_fire32]

Have got a Scott Aspen Level 3 at the moment, but plan to change to Cairns 660 within the next week, am doing a trade.  The newer Scott Aspens are very uncomfortable as they have no padding across the forehead - starts to give you a headache after about 20-30 minutes.  Others have put their own padding in, but it is something we shouldn't have to do ourselves.  May need the attention of a near miss form.  Secondly, the visor is very hard to adjust and often crack because of this.
Cairns 660 for me - an oldy, but a goody.

[CyberCitizen]

American Site (Nice Helmets Though)
http://www.allhandsfire.com/page/AHF/CTGY/helmets

[TillerMan]

Go the cairns 660c.

[fire03rescue]

cairns 660c fits well !

[mattb]

Give Todd a call at Mercury Fire. I believe the Cairns 660 helmets are now a lot cheaper than they previously were, should be way below $300.

[rescue5271]

Our region five air ops brigade have new helmets with ear muffs on teh side they are very good and they guys say they reduce aircraft sound while refilling the bombers..

b

[kat]

Also use the Bullard "FireDome" - have been using for about 10 years now. Love it

It's not a light one but it's comfy and safe.

[strikeathird]

There's a couple of local companies who supply in such items.  You can also give Andrew a try, from Emergency and Safety Systems.


Can't say I have ever seen one of these "bullard" helmets... I assume they are for structural use ?

[kat]

Oh yes  - the original structural helmet :-)

Seen them around long before the Cairns or the Pacific.

[Mike]

The original.... and very nice indeed.
Just been so lond since ive seen one, I kinda forgot about them.. oops :roll:

[TillerMan]

go the top guard

[strikeathird]

^ LOL - Golden Oldies  :-D

[Wagon 1]

Yes, Emergency and Safety gave us a quote on Cairns 660, they were cheaper than Pacific's, not sure who their supplier is, might not hurt to give them a call. We have only ever had one Pacific on trial, its now collecting dust.

[Mike]

Have heard around the traps that Cairns may not be here for much longer. They apparently make to order for contracts only, and the only contract they had in Aus has been renewed with a different company....

Can anyone shed any light??

[Wagon 1]

I can't see how that would be true, they would be out of business. They make tons of Helmets in the USA. But that begs the question, do they have to do anything different to meet our standards, or is on off the shelf US helmet the same as ours?

[Toast]

I have to say that I love the Bullard Fire Dome. It just feels like a good sturdy helmet.  most of the others, well... they just feel flimsy really.

[corocfs]

obviously haven met the cairns 660  :-D

[CFS_Firey]

Has anyone heard the new CFS plan for Structure Helmets? Something about not buying them, but having a set of structural attachments for rural ones, on each truck? :? Sounds like another stupid idea to me :(

[OMGWTF]

what another stupid cost cutting ploy??

prob better than some people carrying two helmets, but still stupid.

[Wagon 1]

That just would not be possible, and is the dumbest idea yet. We do we get these people from, I have been wearing a structural helmet for many many years, to many many rural incidents including Sydney bushfires, KI fires etc, and never had a problem, how about they do some actual studies by people that wear them, not some pen pushers that have not fought a fire since Khaki overalls were all the rage!!

Also it would be almost impossible to easily make a rural helmet structural compliant, you need to put the impact and thermal barriers into the helmet, yeah right, try doing that in a hurry.

Take a reality pill CFS HQ, I can't beleive what is happening to this service, seems to be full of .................!!!

[TillerMan]

And they wonder why the volunteer numbers are declining.