New kit worn by the Australian Capital Territory Fire & Rescue includes innovative fabric supplied by leading British textile manufacturer Hainsworth.
The personal protective equipment worn by ACT firefighters will incorporate Hainsworth® TITAN following a successful trial in conjunction with Australian garment manufacturing partner Stewart & Heaton.
The ACT Fire & Rescue decided to change its structural kit as part of a new ensemble approach. The kit, which will be worn by more than 400 firefighters, will continue to be lime green in colour to improve visibility.
Charlotte Brandt, Sales Manager for Hainsworth Protectives, said: “ACT was keen to utilise all the benefits associated with Hainsworth® TITAN together with the use of a Gore Airlock moisture/thermal barrier and Nomex filament inner liner.
“The decision to proceed was made only after excellent performance results achieved through bench top testing to the AS/NZS 4967:2009 Standard.”
Hainsworth® TITAN is a patented double cloth construction with Nomex® on the face to provide optimal thermal protection, abrasion resistance and colour fastness, and Kevlar® on the back to provide strength. The kits offer exceptional heat stress management capabilities as well as comfort, wear life and durability, heat and flame protection and chemical resistance.
The company, which is based in Yorkshire, England, believes that its combination of fibre, weaving and finishing technologies offer firefighters the ultimate in high performance fabrics.
Charlotte Brandt added: “Our ACT success is the result of all the hard work put in by the Hainsworth team in continually innovating and developing the best possible protective fabrics for today’s firefighters.
“We place a huge amount of emphasis on providing fire services with fabric solutions which combat heat stress – the biggest cause of firefighter injury and death worldwide – minimise the impact of UV degradation and ensure maximum durability and breathability.
“Today’s kit has to perform many duties to protect the modern firefighter, which are often at odds with each other. It must stop water and heat from outside the garment getting through to the wearer while allowing water (sweat in the form of moisture vapour) and heat from the wearer to dissipate to the outside. It must be robust enough to offer high levels of thermal and mechanical protection while also being light and breathable enough to minimise heat stress.”
Hainsworth Protectives promotes three core messages to potential customers around the world – Design that Saves, Protection that Shows and Quality that Lasts.
ACT Fire & Rescue is the latest fire service to use Hainsworth® TITAN. Apart from Australia, firefighters in the UK, United States, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Scandinavia and Central Europe all use the fabric.
Hainsworth, which is based in Yorkshire, England, has over 225 years of textile expertise and has been at the forefront of protective fabric innovation for more than 100 years, working with the emergency services and the military.