problems with helmet colors

[squad113]

Our junior program in our department is growing quickly. It used to be just me now we are up to about 10 or 11. At past structer fires in our town I was allowed to do over haul and exterior fire fighting. However when we run mutial aid its an unwritten rule that we just stand back and watch. One of my good friends however decided at our last fire to help hold a hose on the outside of the house at a mutial aid fire. Now our new Asst. Chief wants all juniors to have orange helmets. Right now we have yellow like the rest of the fire fighter who are not officers. So juniors what color are your helmets? Any way we can avoid the color orange. I was thinking like maybe a blue? What do you think?

[SFDchief]

Be lucky that all he wants to change is the helmets. Our juniors are not allowed to go on mutual aid calls at all. The reason being (and justifiably so)that it prevents interior firefighters from riding the rig.

Our juniors wear yellow helmets and coats as opposed to the black that everyone else wears. This way they are easilly identifiable and not mistakenly put into a "hazardous situation".

[EoneTiller]

The cadets here, we all have yellow helmets while everyone else has black helmets. the cadets gear is the same as everyone elses to. around here if there is blue on the helmet it means they are the safets officer. i dont know if thats the same in ur area. i think if all the officers and firefighters have yellow then the juniors should have black. because at my station ive been told on scene that the only way people can tell the difference between the cadets and the firefighters is from our helmets. i dont know if there is a way to avoid changing the colors besides haveing a meeting with ur asst. cheif and the cheif about it. but i think its a good idea that juniors and firefighters have different color helmets.

-garrett hitchcock


Its not something you do
Its something you are
E-one

Going beyond the call

[fyrfyter33]

Blue around here is generally reserved for Specialized rescue teams, the same with the color orange. Why not suggest this to your Chief, instead of changing the helmet colors, why not just change the helmets? (slightly). You can get Rockers/Arches for the helmets that are reflective, and easily Identify who the person is. all of our duty personnel have red helmets, withc rockers that say Firefighter on them, while the explorers have red helmets with rockers that say Explorer on them. This easily differentiates who is cleared to do what at the scene of an incident. They come in every conceiveable name type, including explorer, trainee, etc. Offer that up to your Chief as an option, and he might go for it, considering it is much cheaper than buying a bunch of new colored helmets.

[mdoddsjffhnfc]

I wear the same helmet as the other juniors and senior FF's. The difference in appearance is that the Juniors wear the Old Yellow GLOBE Gear, while the senior FF's have Tan/Brown Gear.

Why not just get some tape or something and rap it around your helmet. Get a permanent marker and put "Junior FF" on the tape.

[nomad1085]

The explorers in my dept have Orange helments while the rest of us have Yellow or black (old ones are black). The gear is different as well, but sometimes at night, you don't see the different gear; only the helmet.

The helemt fronts and arches also say "Explorer" instead of "Firefighter".

Don't sweat it. You should be able to identify eachother without haveing to tap your shoulder and say "Hey, who are you?"

[fyrfyter33]

I still think that arches and perhaps helmet fronts would be the best idea. Although the tape idea is nice, heat getting to the tape, could effect how well the helmet works. Its better to get soemthing for the helmet that is actually designed to be affixed to the helmet, such as arches/rockers, and either permanent helmet fronts, or the adhesive reflective kind.

[gordo5engine]

on our explorer post we wear yellow helmets and the ff's were black, on the department that i am a ff for, i were yellow cause i am a probationary ff, the non probies have black helmets.

[SFDchief]

I see alot of ideas here from helmet cresants to various colors. Not saying that one is better than the other for your dept but what we have found is the following:

Having designated stickers or shields indicating rank is not as destinguishable as a whole different color. From a comand point of view when on a chaotic job it's alot easier to distinguish a junior with an entirely diffent helmet color so there's no mistakes made on the ability level of the individual.

We do the same with EMS members. Since my FD runs EMS, all EMS members wear blue helmets for the same reason. Chiefs wear white helmets. It's all about indentifying the individual, not singling them out.

[SARfreak]

I wear the same gear as everyone else, but with a black old style helmet. Our FFs wear yellow new style, officers wear red old style, chief and asst chief wear white old style. Different helmet colors, in contrast to different rockers, makes personell identification much easier on a hectic fireground.

[backdraft663]

well on our department us cadets wear black helmets with a arch saying CADET and the firefighters wear black that say FIREFIGHTER and the luitenents and captains wear those nice red hats and the chief wears a nice new white one. but one thing is, is that i get all the old equipment the only new equipment of mine is my glove strap and flashlight and the rest like my boots, gloves, helmet bunker gear are all hand me downs

[Bfdjr19]

In my department, our Explorers have different turnout gear and helmets from the firefighters. The firefighters wear black gear with yellow reflective striping, and black helmets. The officers wear the same gear, but with yellow helmets. The Chiefs wear tan gear that says C-1, C-2, or C-3, and white helmets. Th Explorers on the other hand wear black gear with orange striping, and orange helmets with Explorer/Junior Firefighter crests, and the Explorer Captain and 2 Lieutenants have red helmets with those titles on it. Some other groups in my area do things differently, but this is the way its done in my group.

Opinions are my own.

[fyrfyter33]

I agree with what SFDChief said about the helmets, from a command standpoint, helmet colors are easier to identify. I just think that its a pricey solution, for something that should be easier to solve. Our explorers know exactyl what they are allowed and not allowed to do at the scene of an incident, and we have never (knock on wood) had a problem with an explorer doing something they should not being doing at an incident. I agree that the explorers should be easily identified as non certified personnel, but perhaps both rockers, and a restatement of all rules governing explorers/jr's/cadets would be best, so that all personnel are on the same level, and everyone knows their place.

[HFDEXP777]

just be glad you dont have our puke green helmets



and i agree with sfdchief about mutual aid, my personal opinion a mutual aid truck should only be interior, except maybe for the driver

[mdoddsjffhnfc]

adding on to my before post...

With us it's easier, since we have the yellow gear and all. Our chief informed the mutual aid companies awhile ago that the juniors wear the yellow gear. That kind of helps.

Around here it's all with the gear. Magnolia (29-1) has juniors with black gear while the seniors have tanish gear. Somerdale (65-2) has there juniors wearing the old Magnolia Heights FD Gear (from when the two district 65 stations merged.)

[dfdex1]

We have yellow 770 helmets with "Explorer crecents" and Yellow/Pink trim gear. On the inside of the helemets I wrote on fornt in-side brim "DFDE 3334" D******* Fire Department Explorer post 3334
and on the rear inside brim the explorers last name.

We dont go on runs but we do goto other towns for training with there explorers,so if they have the same type of helmet we can dishtingush them.
Also there is another reason, the helmets and gear is totally separate from the firefighters, so if certain people get ahold of thier dads gear and go around to calls we dont get in trouble because of the disticvness of our gear.

good luck dfd

[FyrFighterMook]

Well in my county all firefighters have yellow hemets, and the Jr's have black helmets that have a regular firefighter arch on the sides and the station number inside the arch in reflective yellow, this alows for quick and easy identifacation, and looks good.

[JRFireman]

When will this madness cease?!
Next they're going to want officers to wear different color helmets to tell them apart. They may even go so far as to have medics wear different color helmets so they don't accidentally get sent into buildings!

In my department, we(juniors) have the same color helmets as senior firefighters, but we have not had any problems. If your department had a problem, then yes, something should be changed.

[HFDEXP777]

Originally posted by JRFireman
When will this madness cease?!
Next they're going to want officers to wear different color helmets to tell them apart.

are you saying that your chiefs/officers dont wear different colors??

[SARfreak]

Originally posted by JRFireman
When will this madness cease?!
Next they're going to want officers to wear different color helmets to tell them apart. They may even go so far as to have medics wear different color helmets so they don't accidentally get sent into buildings!

In my department, we have the same color helmets, but we have not had any problems. If your department had a problem, then yes, something should be changed.

Umm...colors are there to tell people apart. How hard is it to understand? Different people have different roles at a fire ground. Officers MUST be readily identifiable. It's all under their control, right? Medics MUST be readily identifiable as well. If they don't have firefighting skills, they've got to be put off to the side to deal with patients as they come, not put into situations that they have no experince in and unable to do anything pertinant to their skills as medics. Junior/Explorers/Cadets are there to learn, they MUST be readily identifiable so the less intellegent among them don't put themselves into a dangerous situation or in places they shouldn't be. It's the same idea as having different colored reflective vests in search and rescue missions. ground team leaders have green, ground team members have orange. It tells the IC that a certain group of people is responsible for everyone else and they are the ones that should be recieving briefings and getting supplies.

There is a basic concept here, that of differentiation between skill levels. You wouldn't expect a junior to have the same knowledge base as a senior, so you have to be able to differentiate so you get the right person for the job.