Metal burns holes in city's new firefighter gear
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/212090,CST-NWS-fire16.article)

January 16, 2007

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Two incidents last week -- one at a warehouse fire, the other during fire academy training -- have raised renewed questions about the safety of $10 million worth of protective clothing purchased for Chicago firefighters.

Both firefighters burned a hole in the pants of their "bunker gear" while using a high-powered saw to cut through a metal fence. Sparks flew and a piece of red-hot metal hit the pant leg and damaged the outer shell. The thermal barrier and inner lining of the pants was not penetrated.

'The garmet performed'
Neither the firefighter-in-training nor the veteran doing it for real in the 1300 block of West Exchange were injured, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Nevertheless, the pants were taken to a Virginia laboratory for testing. A representative of the manufacturer, Ohio-based Lion Apparel, was present "to make sure this was not a failure that had anything to do with the product being bad," Langford said. The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, which had opposed the selection of Lion Apparel, also was represented.

"That microscopic analysis showed that the residue was molten metal, which is well over 1,000 degrees. It hit the pant leg and did cause some damage. But the garment performed as it was supposed to. The firefighters never received any burns and were never in danger of receiving burns," Langford said.

"We are convinced that this is a good product. We've had all kinds of fires with people wearing this stuff. Nobody's been burned. The garment performed as it was supposed to perform."

A union official, who asked to remain anonymous, countered, "We were doing what was in our job description and the product failed. We need to know why."

For decades, Chicago firefighters wore three-quarters-length coats and rubber boots extending to the hip. Their groin and thighs were unprotected.

Chicago is the last big city in the nation to buy fire-resistant clothing tailor-made to protect firefighters and paramedics from head to toe. The gear consists of pants, suspenders, jacket, gloves, hood and boots.

Union opposed selection
The new clothing already has been distributed to 2,500 firefighters and paramedics, roughly half of Fire Department personnel.

The back-to-back incidents resurrected a controversy that has raged for months over City Hall's selection of Lion Apparel.

Local 2 accused the city of conducting inadequate testing -- in the field, in some cases without exposing the gear to fire -- instead of testing competing products in a controlled environment. The union also complained about being frozen out of the selection process and denied access to field evaluations.

When the union queioned firefighters who participated in the field evaluations, a majority gave top ratings to a rival bidder, Total Fire Group/Morning Pride, union officials said. A total of four companies bid for the contract, billed as the biggest improvement in firefighter safety in a generation -- since self-contained breathing apparatus.

Mike Carlson, CFI, CFEI, CVFI, CATI, CPP,
Chicago, Il