helmet stickers

[firefighterdfd7]

How many of you have stickers on there helmets? Th reason I ask is because our chief decided that we had too many stickers on our helmets and made everyone remove them, even the fire fighting related ones. I my self have not removed my stickers because I feel it is uneccessary. He also made the guys who bought natural leather helmets to remove them and go back to our red 1010's. thanks for listening

[Weruj1]

As an Asst Chief, my boss, and myself felt that we had some members with WAY to many decals/stickers adorning thier helmets. We as a separtment purchased reflective decals to remember 9/11 (a portion of proceedes benfited FF's survivors)that went in place of one of the reflective decals on the helmet. A policy then came out reporting that no on could place anymore decals on the helmet that were visible on the outside, but could pace them under the brim. We also dont allow anyone to vary from department issued equipment, unless allowed by the Chief, so far the only real big thing that we are allowing is the switch to leather boots at the members cost, and upkeep. If they have a footwear issue then they wil be given another pair of rubbers. Obviously your department uses the "red" helmets as a distinction for officers so "natural" doesnt sound like red to me ......What is so hard about following the rules ? or asking to change them ?

[firefiftyfive]

I wish my department had some type of policy relating to stickers on helmets llike yours does Weruj1. Some guys in my department have a ridiculous amount of stickers on their helmets. It just looks unprofesional. On my helmet, aside from the refelective stickers I only have to very small stickers maybe 1inch x 1inch, one is an american flag the other is an Italian flag. I think the line has to be drawn on what type of stickers and how many guys can put on there helmets. We are out there trying to be as professional as possible we might as well look the part.

[33motor]

I agree about too many stickers looking gauwdy. I am not against a sticker or two, but there will always be those members that take it too far, so there has to be limits. My Dept only allows an american flag on the rear left of the crown, and your initials on the very back of the crown. I actually have neither of those. When I still had a Face Shield I had a small flag on the far side of it, out of my sight line.

I actually have 3 very small stickers on my helmet... none of which relate to the FD. They are actually inspired by my girls. Under my brim I have 2 small stickers that look like childrens hand prints... they are pink and they are for my 2 daughters. I have a small one on the side of my crown that is the scooby doo mystery machine (LOL), my oldest's favorite show. The van is no bigger than my first digit of my index finger (and is alomst invisible from soot), and the hands are probably smaller than the nail of my thumb.

It would be great to not have to set limits on something like stickers, but let's face it, someone will always be there to go overboard with em.

[FFFRED]

Although the guys should have gotten red leathers instead of natural...
My personal experience has shown me over the short few years I've been a fireman that if as a chief(or even company officer) you are devoting any time to this issue demonstrates one of two things...

1. You have the perfect fire department...with better than average staffing, more than adequate funding, and the best appartatus, personell and equipment. The men are the best trained and motiviated firefighters out there. They are second-to-none in performance and tactical knowledge.

or....

2. You have none of the above and you have what most shrinks would classify as a problem with trust and control issues. You and your members have a complete lack of focus and probably morale. You are probably the same guy who worries about what pictures are hung on the walls of every firehouse.

I've been in the fire service for comming up on 8 years, started in a rural vol. to small town FD to a mid sized suburban FD and now in a Big City Dept. I've worked for all types of company officers and Chiefs in all types of settings. The ones who were more worried about job performance and proficency in my skills as a fireman never worried about such things. It is odd though that there was an inverse relation between size and amount of time given to such issues. The smaller ones always worried more about the silly things like this topic.

IF you take care of the other more important things that are going to keep you and your men from going home in bags or out of the local newspaper for burning down a building...the other things will take care of themselves.

You guys who have anything including photos of your kids in your helmet...guess what there are guys out there who feel that too is inapropriate...They do exist, I've worked for them. So for you to say there is a limit or something called "too much" it is only relative to how anal the boss can be.

As long as this guy doesn't have a bumper sticker on his helmet that says "F*** **U Joe Q. Public" Who really gives a damn? The guy is probably doing just because he knows it gets to you. Myself and I would guess most guys in my house personally don't care if you have the hammer and sickle on your lid as long as you can do the job.

To you who can't get over what someone else has on their helmet....Honestly, Grow up.

FTM-PTB

[PFD109NFD107]

It is ironic that this topic has been brought up. We have had this issue come up on our department recently. I have found out in the last week that we have had a 2 sticker rule for our fire helmets since 2001. Even before that, our Deputy Fire Chief ordered all IAFF stickers to be removed. This was only a short period of time after he was promoted out of the union. Of course when he was in the union he proudly wore the same IAFF sticker.
This rule hasn't been enforced since I have 4 stickers on my helmet. All of my stickers are in very good taste and honor the fire service and this great country. I have an American Flag, W6, FDNY and another Worcester sticker. Why come up with a blanket policy that limits an individual's ability to honor our brothers. If a firefighter has something offensive ie, Kalvin ******ing on fire and etc. Then have him/her remove it. I don't think it is neccesary to come up with a policy that infridges on a persons ability to display tasteful helmet stickers. Deal with the problem children and devote time to writing a policy that is a bit more meaningful.

By the way, the current NFPA standard addresses the fire helmets should have a mininum 4" of reflective material on a helmet.

[hwoods]

I respectfully excercise my right to disagree. I have Volunteer Firefighters who are among the busiest in the nation. They are also very well trained, well equipped, and quite capable of putting hell out. A couple of them did, however, create a helment style that resembled a Volkswagen bus full of bumper stickers. After a discussion that included everyone who wears a helment, we adopted a policy regarding "ornamentation" of PPE. We strive to be professional in every way, including appearance. Public perception IS important to us, as it directly relates to community support, which directly relates to our survival. Stay Safe....

[PFD109NFD107]

hwoods.....

I agree that public perception is very important to the fire service but how does a guy having helmet stickers on his helmet change public perception? Unless the stickers are in poor taste then what is the big deal.

Did your new policy limit the number of stickers or did it address stickers of poor taste?

[cozmosis]

Some rules regarding helmet decoration are a good thing. In my department, there are no rules that I am aware of. Of course, this means that every helmet looks as different as the person wearing it. Personally, I don't think that's a good thing.

I think everyone should have the ability to add their own touch -- flags, small logos, memorial stickers, etc. However, your lid shouldn't be a walking billboard. There are some firefighters that have helmets where you can see more sticker than helmet. That looks goofy... and if firefighters look goofy, so does the department.

The problem lies in the fact that a consensus must be made between firefighters and administrators who have often forgotten what it is like to be firefighters.

[SamsonFCDES]

WOW.

Lets solve the worlds problems...

OK, my VFD has some sticker rules.

We all wear black Turnouts and black helmets (tactical tupperware, we are to poor for leather... ), no eception, unifomity and all...

But, stickers denote all ranks.

Chief has a big chief sticker, and so on.

Notable exception is the safety oficer who has a number of bullet whole stickers in his helmet. True.

A number of crossed skulls and halligan bars done in stars and stripes exist, and a lot of scotchlite.

Other wiese I would guess that our guys are not that imaginatieve.

No bumper stickers or such, just hard core fire service stuff.

No problem with stickers here.

[zippo99]

Belgian FF are not allowed to put on any stickers on there helmet.
Not only by Department regulations, but it is explicit written by the Home Department.
The only thing allowed on the helmet are black or red stripes indicating ranks.
There are strict rules not only for the helmet but even for every part of gear or uniform worn by FF's.
At the Navy FF team there are no regulations concerning stickers on helmets, but they don't like it.
I got one 9/11 remembrence sticker on the back of my "space" helmet and a US flag on the right side and one Belgian flag on the left.
And they are stying on the helmet, even if they like it or not.

[quint1driver]

Heck, Ive got morons that put "Helmet laws suck" stickers on their lid (they were told to remove them!), youths putting their high school football teams stickers on them (they ride the pine to begin with), and people putting on so much reflexite that you couldn't look them in the face. Personally, I like the stock look, tetrahedrons (sp?), with an American flag on the back. Do stickers help you put out fires better or just make you look like an outstanding fire fighter, "OUT STANDING IN THE YARD!!" Heck, a few decent fires and you have to put on new stickers anyway.

[ff7134]

We don't have any set rules but the Chief reserves the right to have you remove any he deems unexceptable. I have a FDNY 343 flag, my man number on the back and a sticker that says "how does the back of the truck look?"

Our issue is stickers on lockers in the bay.

[shammrock54]

My dept has not run into a helmet sticker problem as of yet. The officers have handled any matters of something untasteful and that has been the end of it. Any sticker that may be even remotely out of line is encouraged to be placed under the brim.

btw the most popular under the brim sticker is our own invention- " IF IT WAS EASY THE COPS WOULD DO IT"

Other than that i proudly wear my LEATHER FOREVER sticker on my N5A as those w/ Ben 2s sport their PLEATHER FOREVER stickers (also our own invention)

[FiremedicMike]

edit to remove personal info

[hwoods]

We addressed Taste and obscuring Name and/or Rank. General idea was "if it would create an adverse reaction from your Mother, then don't do it. Most of us seem to forget that the public reads our helments too. Stay Safe....

[Medic162]

Originally posted by hwoods
We strive to be professional in every way, including appearance.

This, I guess, is what it boils down to for most departments. With absolute fear I'll bring up the leather vs plastic debate. Yeah, I understand uniformity, but the people who cry the loudest are the ones refusing to shell out the wampum for protection. Oh, you wanna debate that too. Ask bro Tom Jurgensmeyer down here in SC how he would have fared wearing plastic when the room flashed on him. The cows head saved his. I'm not a rich guy by any means. I wear leather, I paid for leather. Simple math - top line of protection. I'm not aware of a single brother who is fighting against the wearing of leather helmets who is WEARING ONE. Think about it... And stickers??? I have one FDNY343, but no "Pornstar, RescueHero," or any other. Never had anyone ask me to remove it, this just must be a local thing in some mindless place

[RescuHoppy7]

We don't have a "policy" for our helmets but as a lieutenant if the stickers become too much I'll ask them to remove some as it looks unprofessional, I personally have a shamrock (the same one has been on every helmet I've owned), a 9/11 sticker, a Irish Maltese Cross and a Flag EMS sticker on my Ben 2

[ResQFF]

Stickers take away the integrity of the helmet

They shouldn't be on there - Just enough to make helmet visible and to distinguish level of FF

[len1582]

A simple flag or memorial sticker or 2 is OK, but I've seen some overdone & stupid stuff on helmets and it can look unprofessional. But as far as taking away the integrity of a helmet I've never seen or heard of a helmet bursting into flames because it had stickers on it.