Fire Shelter

[smketer]

Hello All,
well I got a chance to play with the new fire shelter. I am not very impressed by it what so ever, it has a small floor on it. The feeling of the fire shelter is that its very thin, feels like the old one just with a floor and no small pin holes.

I never plan on being in a burnover, but I am sorry I think the USFS shelter really sucks. I am going to get the Storm King Mountain Shelter, it does cost a bit more but I think that its well worth the extra couple of dollars.

Has anyone heard of how they are going to hand out the new shelter?

Stay Safe,

[Wildfire]

When I was speaking with the cache managers, I was informed that the new shelters will be given initially to the shot crews and smoke jumpers. After moreeof the new shelters arebrought in to the system, they will be available then. My conversation with cache managers was about 3 months ago and things may have changed since then.

[oregonshot]

From what I understand is that every wildland ff personel type 1 & 2 crews were issued new fire shelters I may be mistaken but if i aint there is a private contract crew Ferguson that had to deploy them on the skunk fire i belive last summer that can give a good testamonial about them

[dfcwinsret]

crimson
The new federal issued fire shelter? I have my doubts.
I did see the Stormking Mountain Fire Shelter alongside the federal issued fire shelter at the FIREHOUSE World Conference in San Diego recently. The Stormking Mountain Fire Shelter was/is of superior construction and design. You choose and let the buyer beware.
R. Winston

[MTFires]

I'm going to disagree with some of the other posters here, I also have seen the new shelter, as well as the STM shelter and I like the new FS shelter a lot better. In addition to being a big improvement over the old one in performance, I am very glad I am going to be required to carry the FS shelter and not the other examples I've seen based on sheer bulk and weight.

One thing to note, the new shelter has not seen any field use yet, they are still in the process of being made. It would seem most prudent to wait and see how it performs before putting it down.

Opinions are like noses, everyone has one.

[smketer]

MT if the shelter has not been tested fully then why are the companys building it now for us to wear come June?
True the SKM fire shelter is bigger but if I remember right it is a lot thicker.

Also with the new FS shelter its still really thin.
And what I was saying is if the government is going to spend the extra money why not get something better to keep us safe.

Plus dont forget to get your fire pack in I wear the True North pack and its going to cost me $15 dollars for the new shelter case.

Stay Safe,

[MTFires]

Smketer,

I must start out by confessing that I am well acquainted with the development of the new shelter, and that my discussion in this post is intended as an personal opinion and nothing else.

By tested, I meant that only the original Fire Shelter has actually been "tested" by being exposed to an uncontrolled burnover in a wildfire with a firefighter inside. The new shelter, and any other shelter prototypes out there, have not. I pray they never will be.

The testing done by MTDC did included full scale laboratory flame testing of shelters composed of many different combinations of materials. The shelter materials and design selected outperformed all the others in most if not all areas. There are many factors that go into a decision of this sort, and I can say with confidence that cost was not one of them. In my opinion, we will be getting the best possible shelter bar none.

The single sample shelter I am aware of has been handled so much, folded and unfolded, it is getting down right floppy, and is not a very good representative of what the shelter will be like when in it's unused condition. The new shelter is made up of several layers, one of them being a quartz fiber cloth, and is a lot thicker than the old one but not as thick as some of the others that were evaluated. While the new shelter design actually uses less material it is larger than the old one when folded.

When it becomes available, I will be one of the firefighters carrying it, so I have every reason to want the best for myself. Yes, anyone that wishes to carry the new fire shelter in their line pack fire shelter pouches will have to have them modified for it to fit (9 x 5-1/2 x 4-1/2), but that is the cost of progress.

[hageremtp]

My old fire shelter reminded me of a large square of foil, and everyone bakes potatoes in the oven wrapped in foil!

[smketer]

I am not sure of the size of the Storm King Mountain shelter, and I could not find any info on the shelter size on the site. www.stormkingmtn.com but they do have some email address that I emailed to ask more info about and I will post it as soon as I get a reply.

MT do you know what kind of deployment times they are saying we can get into the new shelter with?

Stay Safe,

[MTFires]

The 2001 Edition of Your Fire Shelter says that with a little practice most people should be able to deploy and enter the fire shelter in 20 seconds, which seems to be about right. The new shelter does not have any straps to get tangled up in, and the shake handles make opening it right side up much faster. I would guess that 15 to 20 seconds from pulling from the carrying case to laying down inside, in calm air, would not be too hard with practice. I have not heard, but I would imagine the new guide will stick with the 20 seconds.