HELP!!! INDURA COTTON vs NOMEX

[bweath1312]

To anyone knowledgable on the subject, i am looking to get a new pair of wildland pants, and i am torn between Indura Cotton, or Nomex, what is the adv. /dis adv. to each. Or what do u think is the best. Thanks for your help

[Wildfire]

Spend the extra few bucks and go with the nomex.

[bweath1312]

any reason, indura cotton almost sounds more reliable to me, nomex just seems lighter material, not so much better though.

[Wildfire]

Nomex is the way to go. That's why that's all that is issued on fires. I don't see any indura cotton in the caches.

[bweath1312]

Alrighty, anything different about the fire proofing?

[Wildfire]

Nomex has much better flame protection than the indura cotton. Remember that the indura cotton is rated as flame retardent. If you look at station wear uniforms, they also have 100% cotton, indura cotton, and nomex. I've been in the fire service since 1971 and have done my share of specs on gear, uniforms, etc. When I got into the wildland arena of the fire world I also looked at the indura versus nomex. I think you could figure out which I chose. Talk to some of your local wildland folks and stae forester. I think you'll find out that nomex is the material of choice. Besides, if the agencies involved with the National Fire Equipment System (NFES) have opted for nomex, I think that's a fair statement of what the folks in the wildland fire comunity feel is best.

[pumper41]

On the issue of flame resistance (nothing regarding PPE is "fire proof"), the qualities of Nomex IIIA and Indura FR are as follows. On contact with flame, Nomex will begin to turn brown and then black as result of charring within the first few seconds, structurally the fabric will maintain a degree of integrity, although you may still sustain serious burns due to heat transfer. Indura on coming into contact with flame, will char, and may smoulder although it will self-extinguish if the flame is withdrawn. Structural integrity may be inferior to Nomex. Serious burns may also occur as with Nomex. See the other Indura Vs Nomex thread on the firefighting forum for my other posts on this matter - Peter.

[alliejd]

The main two differences between Indura and Nomex are:

1) durability -- Nomex is inherently FR, which means the protection is always there. Indura is a chemically treated cotton and eventually washes out with enough washes (around 20-50). The only way to know if it still works is to try to set it on fire. So if you buy new clothes that are the same as the old clothes, how do you know which are old? You'd have to toss and replace annually. Some manufacturers will argue this, but I've yet to find one that can prove it or back up the durability with a 2-yr or greater guarantee. When asked what their tests show, they will give you the number of washes and it's always within that range above.

2) Indura can reach a greater caloric protection rating. So far, I haven't found any Nomex that goes beyond a Hazard Class Rating of 1. The best Nomex I've found has 6.8 cal/cm2. This limits what you can be exposed to. Indura will provide a higher protection rating (I've seen HRC 2 that protects at 9.2 cal/cm2)

There is also price. For some reason, Nomex is much more expensive than an equivalent Indura piece, probably because it will last longer.

[Bushwhacker]

To anyone knowledgable on the subject, i am looking to get a new pair of wildland pants, and i am torn between Indura Cotton, or Nomex, what is the adv. /dis adv. to each. Or what do u think is the best. Thanks for your help

Buy Advanced/Nomex pants. F-Indura.