ABSTRACT
This chapter thoroughly discusses the evaluation and assessment of the protective performance of firefighters’ clothing or fabrics used in their clothing. For this, various thermal and non-thermal hazards faced by firefighters are highlighted, and modes of heat and mass transfer from the source of the hazards to the fabrics and clothing are explained. The standardized and/or customized test methods to evaluate the protective performance of fabrics and clothing under these hazards are discussed. Also, various factors, such as fabric construction and properties (e.g., number and types of fabric layers, weight, thickness), clothing designs (e.g., size, fit), and/or features of the test methods (e.g., intensity, duration, and/or angle of impingement of the hazards), affecting the protective performance are demonstrated. Altogether, evaluation and assessment could help to understand the engineering involved in developing and testing high protective performance based firefighters’ clothing under the hazards. Thereafter, the key issues related to the evaluation and assessment of the protective performance of fabrics/clothing is highlighted. By properly addressing these key issues, in the future, the textile and/or materials engineers can modify the existing methods or develop new methods to evaluate the protective performance of firefighters’ protective fabrics and/or clothing. It could also help to develop new fabrics for the clothing, which can provide the better protection and safety to the firefighters.
