Fire officials say that six firefighters wearing the Blaze Fighter gloves have suffered second-degree burns on the backs of their hands while battling blazes since November.
In all of the incidents, none of the gloves were damaged.
The gloves -- manufactured by Glove Corp. -- are being worn by 6,500 firefighters and cost the city close to $850,000.
The first incident was reported on Nov. 14 when three firefighters on a hose line operating at a Brooklyn house fire suffered burns to their hands.
Fire Department spokesman James Long told the newspaper that the firefighters had blisters on the back of their hands and on their fingers.
"The largest is the size of a quarter," he said.
Only three days later, a firefighter on a rooftop in Brooklyn was burned during a similar incident and on Dec. 25 another firefighter suffered the same burns.
On Jan. 23, a firefighter in the Bronx was burned.
The FDNY purchased the gloves last September following a successful trial run and officials had touted their state-of-the-art design and tapered fit.
The gloves met the NFPA standards at the time.
An inquiry commissioned by the department found, however, that the manufacturer had since switched from a cotton fiber to a polyester blend, making the gloves noncompliant with the standards.
The company put out an advisory last month stating the gloves "encountered issues with the performance of the conductive heat resistance test," and that they had received "reported cases of back of hand burns with a few pairs of this glove model," according to the report.
The city's law department is now handling the mater.
The city may have difficulty recouping cost though, as Glove Corp. shuttered operations on Jan. 31.
THV-TV reported yesterday that the manufacturing plant in Heber Springs, Ark. that has been in operation for 59 years shut down without any warning Monday morning.
Despite possible legal battles, Chief of Department Edward S. Kilduff told The Times that the department is not losing sight of what is most important.
"The most important part of it, in our mind, is we need to get these gloves replaced as soon as possible," he said. "One injury is one too many."
The department put its unions on notice Thursday night and sent an order to every firehouse letting members know of the plans to replace the gloves.
