national Clothing

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:49 pm

Just heard on the grape vine that the national clothing team have made a decision on the next uniform

Wonder now how long it'll take to actually get the stuff

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:26 am

Anyone heard another rumor about Ron pulling out of the national clothing project, by all accounts he's had enough waiting for it to ever happen.

Wonder how that will work

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:33 am

Uniform project has been going on for so long now have lost interest in the whole thing.
I thought our old uniform was ok really a shirt to wear when doing visits, a t shirt for working around the station and under your tunic simply and straight forward.

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:42 pm

I think its a bit more than that, we need better PPE for the none fire jobs we are seeing more and more.

The general day to day uniform does the job unless like me you have to wear white all the time. :(

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:19 am

Like you I have to wear white all day but I have another 17 people to do the work for me!!
The problem with a different uniform or PPE for non fire situations is a very complex one. Firstly to what level do we provide protection to and for what?
The example would be say a shut in lift; depending on the particular building it would be ok to wear your normal work wear with perhaps just gloves. However I have been on some of the inner London estates and would rather wear my full PPE for my own protection.

As soon as you give the workforce the choice of what to wear, then we are going to see firefighters wearing inappropriate levels of PPE at incidents. There would be too many health and safety implications for the brigade.

Currently the incident commander can and should take into account the working conditions and alter the PPE worn by crews when dealing with an incident.

I am sure that even with the new national uniform we will still have one level of PPE for all situations.

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:17 pm

It all depends I think what clothing they can buy the cheapest, that addresses the British Standards, just like the DM shoes thtat are now solvaire and the first thick blue t/shirts that now are thin and turn grey, but apply to the B.S .I bet the Commisioner would`nt wear one ,when meeting the public.
A good idea might have been to ask other Brigades, what gear came out best in their trials and to see if the uniform that has been on the run for years and looks smart and proffesional matches our requirements , but that might have meant a Temp/ Promotion chain finishing to quick!.

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:55 am

Hi all,

We had a lecture from Group Operations the other day, about new kit, equipment,, vechiles etc, and pro's/cons of the MERC II !

he said were getting new kit in 2009, a golden colour fire kit, with grey shirts, and a athletic type t shirt, that lets out the sweat, and heat ( like the athletes and football players wear now )

He said the dept is coming around all watches, and the new helmets sounds ok, with a built in / or attached on the side lamp, which he said is one of the best lamps for vision/sight, he has ever seen.

Anyway roll on 2009, which probably mean 2012 !

Fire East

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:32 pm

Sounds interesting but I think we have heard it all before, lets just wait and see and dont hold your breath !! All the best

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:19 am

Thats great :( it still doesn't address the lack of specialist kit needed for the no firefighting jobs.

We don't have proper gloves or helmets for RTA's, our fire gear is useless for anything but structural fire firefighting. Our radios still don't work and we have no comms to use underground 20 years after kings cross.

But its alright cos we can put up smoke alarms after resting on our chairs for four hours night.

We as a brigade really need to take a long look at ourselves, we are a joke compared to other brigades. :oops:

Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:37 pm

What kind of Gold kit will it be?

I been wearing Gold for the past 2 years and its very good. Cant compare it to the burgandy as not worn it for any considerbale time.

New helmets would be good. We had Gallets and they seemed much better than the LFB ones. Lighter, more movement allowed etc