| Keywords |
Firefighting gloves; Full-scale fire test; Whole gloves test; Dry and wet conditions; Thermal protective performance |
| Abstract |
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate thermal protective performance of firefighting gloves through a full-scale fire test and explore methods to improve the validity of the full-scale fire test. Four experimental conditions using one type of firefighting gloves and a hand/arm manikins were evaluated (wet/dry condition × palmar/ dorsal side exposure) through an exposure protocol (30-s steady, 12-s flame exposure, and 120-s recovery). The results showed that the surface temperature during the flame exposure and recovery was higher for the wet condition than for the dry condition (p<.05). The predicted burn area was greater for the wet condition compared to the dry condition (p<.05). It seems that the water penetrated into the wet gloves, evaporated at high temperatures and was retained as overheated live steam in the air trapped inside the gloves, which posed a high risk of burns. Further, under all experimental conditions, the fingers were more vulnerable to flame exposure than the palm or back of the hand, which is attributable to the thin distribution of trapped air around fingers. During the full-scale fire test, continuous temperature increases were observed inside the gloves during the recovery phase even after ending the flame exposure, and it is assumed that the heat stored in the gloves took time to spread around. All of these results suggest that a whole productlevel assessment is necessary and that material-level assessment by itself is insufficient. In addition, we confirmed the need to consider gloves in the wet condition, and to balance the heat protection and dexterity of the gloves. |