Wearing bunker/turnout pants?

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LifeOfAMedicStudent

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I work for this county service. While at a hospital in another county, I happened to see a crew from another county EMS service wearing bright blue colored bunker pants with an EMS t-shirt and a radio strap.

Let me mind you they work for a county ambulance service, a completely separate entity from a fire department. Although, they sort of looked like wannabe firefighters to me. How common is this for EMS crews to wear bunker pants as part of their uniform?
 
LifeOfAMedicStudent said:
I work for this county service. While at a hospital in another county, I happened to see a crew from another county EMS service wearing bright blue colored bunker pants with an EMS t-shirt and a radio strap.

Let me mind you they work for a county ambulance service, a completely separate entity from a fire department. Although, they sort of looked like wannabe firefighters to me. How common is this for EMS crews to wear bunker pants as part of their uniform?
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I know a county EMS system where this happens (or used to happen recently). However, they do provide 100% of the EMS solution for rescue scenes. A massive portion of their runs are highway auto accidents, where the scene may involve fire, broken glass, etc.

I can understand why someone might justify it. I still find it silly, though.


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We have turnout pants but the only time we were them is extrication accidents if we have to be involved in care while FD is extricating them.


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As my Handsome friend Robb has stated, some department/companies will issue them out for extrication related calls.
 
LifeOfAMedicStudent said:
Let me mind you they work for a county ambulance service, a completely separate entity from a fire department. Although, they sort of looked like wannabe firefighters to me. How common is this for EMS crews to wear bunker pants as part of their uniform?
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I used to work for a county based 3rd service EMS agency. we were all issued extrication turnout gear as part of our issued uniform, and were expected to wear it on MVAs, fires and rescue scenes. in fact, if you are at many of these scenes, and actually doing work, wearing the proper PPE is actually the right thing to do, and once rescue ops are concluded, it's easier to transport in bunker pants than to remove them prior to turning over patient care.
 
LifeOfAMedicStudent said:
Would you wear them regularly tho?
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If I was on one of those calls then yes. If I really really wanted to be a firefighter then yes.

When I work our racetrack I will sometimes wear our nomex/Kevlar jump suit for the ~30 seconds of flash protection and cut resistance.
 
we got issued extrication gear, which I find to be completely ridiculous, since as an EMS system completely separate from our fire, we will never once be involved in the actual extrication here in our city. That being said, they work great in the winters here to help stay warm, when responding to calls outside, or fire standby's. I ended up getting a cheap pair (cheap being about $50) of tall muck boots from tractor supply, so on those super cold nights, I can havfe them set up similar to fire gear, where I can roll around station in a pair of sweatpants, and be comfortable, then on a run, jump into my extrication gear. I only use them for the warmth, never worry about it for "safety" reasons. Our extrication helmets collect dust on the house shelves.
 
I honestly wouldnt mind it, but I can certainly live without. I have a tendency to kneel on the floor a lot and peoples houses are dirty, plus all the other questionable substances we encounter. I would much rather kneel on the floor in turnout gear, than the clothes I wear for 24 hours around station.



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I think as a general rule, you wear what your employer provides and move on with your day. Having some type of over the clothes type of gear, whether rated for structure fires, extrication, BBP etc has a definite benefit of keeping the various nasties we encounter separate from our non clinical lives, namely the station and our homes. If my employer provided bunkers or onesies, i would seriously consider wearing it simply to keep all that crap out of my quarters.

I agree that at times we look at certain bits of gear as looking ridiculous; however, this isn't a fashion contest. We're here to do a job and if a ridiculous looking piece of gear makes that job easier or more efficient, then i can get past its looks. If however it provides no tangible benefit and is just for looks, then perhaps its the wrong choice.
 
LifeOfAMedicStudent said:
Would you wear them regularly tho?
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If I was on an extrication call I wouldn't take the time to take them off. Other than that, no .


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We have full extrication gear. I last wore mine during our 'drills' in academy. 3 1/2 years ago... We have a winter coat and an extrication coat. I'm not sure which is which.. they both sit in my gear bag, folded neatly. With my never-worn helmet, gloves, neck-sock thingie (I think there's a name for it but I don't know what it is) and probably some other stuff that's in there that I don't even remember.

Most people here who wear the extrication pants wear them because they're warmer than the uniform tru-spec pants. So we'll see people wearing them in the winter, it does get pretty chilly here and the extrication pants are warmer, so I don't throw any shade to anyone wearing them here for that reason. We're a 3rd service, and the FD will be onscene to deal with extrication before we get there, with their trained extrication teams. So we let them do their thing and then we transport. Everyone is happy. Except the person being extricated of course...
 
We also have blue turnout gear. We're supposed to wear it for extrications, but I've only worn the jacket when I had to wash the truck in the cold :)
 
or neck gaiter.
 
Underoath87 said:
Nomex is the trade name for a flame retardant material made by Dupont. It's called a fire hood (which, like most fire gear, features Nomex).
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At least we both know what we were talking about, lol. Kinda like Kleenex. Not saying it's right, but that's what I've always called them; our volley department back in the day called them that, and when we used them in Iraq for facial protection from IED flashover, we used that term...It's just stuck with me since then.
 
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