| Keywords |
Visibility; Retroreflective material; Turnout gear; Flame exposure; Smoke obscuration |
| Abstract |
This study aimed at evaluating the visibility of new and damaged firefighter turnout gear by smoke and light intensities. Eight firefighters evaluated the visibility of turnout gear within the range of 0 (not visible) to 100 (very visible) points. Additional experiments using LED bands and flashlights were performed. Under the day condition, the visibility scores of new and damaged FPC were 2.1 and 1.8 points respectively, under the smoke condition, while the visibility scores were 100.0 and 66.3 points under the no-smoke condition. There were significant differences in the visibility scores between smoke and no-smoke conditions, and between new and damaged FPC under the no-smoke condition. Under the night condition, the visibility scores were all 0 points under the smoke condition, while the visibility scores were 10.1 points (new) and 5.4 points (damaged), under the no-smoke condition. Meanwhile, these visibility scores under the night-no smoke condition were improved up to 47.8 points (new) and 45.3 points (damaged) with the LED bands, and 45.0 points (new) and 35.6 points (damaged) with flashlights. |