USFA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are studying the thermal performance of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) face pieces to increase the protection provided by this equipment to firefighters, especially during incidents of high thermal exposure such as flashover.
The initial phase of the study examined documented on-duty injuries and fatalities of firefighters due to thermal exposure of SCBA face pieces as well as conducting laboratory thermal testing of commercially available SCBA face pieces. Resulting from this research, NIST Technical Note 1724 - Fire Exposures of Fire Fighter Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Facepiece Lenses was released providing information on the results of this testing.
This project also supports the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1981 Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Technical Committee through identification of ways to enhance the operational effectiveness of SCBA face pieces.
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NIST Technical Note 1724 - Fire Exposures of Fire Fighter Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Facepiece Lenses (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
Emergency First Responder Respirator Thermal Characteristics - Workshop Proceedings (27-28 July 2010; Pittsburgh, PA) (PDF, 4.1 Mb)Last Reviewed: August 3, 2012
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