TheFireStore News

How can one effectively identify the hot spots that can be brought back to life by the winds and dropping humidity before they can flare up? Before they can grow into another rapid-moving fire that launches aerial assaults on new fronts? Thermal imaging technology in the form of the Scion PTM (Personal Thermal Monocular) from FLIR is the answer to those questions. Into The Fire Chad Costa, a battalion chief with the Petaluma (Calif.) Fire Department was deployed for 18 days on the Walbridge F...

Wildfire season in 2019 was catastrophic for many parts of the western U.S., particularly California. And 2020 isn’t shaping up to be much better, given the effects of climate change on weather patterns and the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The number of wildfires in the western United States continues to increase daily. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported 87 large fires were burning across the country. Today that number has increased to 96. These fires have scor...

In an effort to improve fire department training customer support and coverage, Witmer Public Safety Group, Inc., parent company of TheFireStore, and LION are partnering to distribute first responder training equipment. LION is one of the largest family-owned manufacturers of first responder personal protective equipment (PPE) in the United States. In addition to producing some of the most high-quality, cutting-edge turnout gear available, LION also offers a holistic suite of critical fire serv...

Firefighters are a very protective lot, when it comes to their individual hand tools. And every firefighter comes off their apparatus with what they feel are the best small tools for doing their job in the pockets of their turnout gear pants and jacket. Ensuring safety tools are not lost Another fact of life on the fireground is that those same tools have a way of getting lost, especially in fast-paced environment of suppressing a fire or extricating a patient from a car crash, especially at n...

MSA has come close with their G1 SCBA. Every firefighter or officer who enters a structure fire has integrated PASS, communications, and TIC capabilities. And it’s all in an SCBA that’s been designed from the ground up to work with the firefighter, not against them. Comfort Features The G1 SCBA incorporates ergonomic principles in a big way. First, MSA stripped away all the electronics from the facepiece to make it more comfortable to wear, reduce potential snag hazards, provide an...

When the 2018 edition of NFPA 1971: Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting was published, one of the more noteworthy additions was the optional requirements for manufacturers to work within developing particulate blocking protective hoods for firefighters. The driving force behind that addition was and continues to be, the growing awareness across the fire services in the U.S. and Canada about the skin absorption risk that firefighters face fro...

Dan T. Moore launched Team Wendy in 1997 to honor the memory of his daughter, Wendy, who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) while snow skiing – an injury that took her life. Moore and his colleagues at Team Wendy have made it their mission to provide the best possible brain protection from blunt force trauma. Initially, that took shape in developing award-winning protective helmets for skiers and snowboarders, and other winter sports enthusiasts. The company parlayed those successes...

It’s only been in the past several years that thermal imaging cameras (TIC) have moved up in the firefighting equipment hierarchy from “nice to have” to “must-have” status. Two big factors in this greater acceptance of TICs are a lower cost per unit and growing support for TICs as life-safety equipment on the same level as SCBA and PPE. Cost-effective cameras More fire departments were able to buy thermal imaging cameras due to the low cost and use on a regular b...

Back in the day, buying firefighting gear was simple. A salesman would show up at the department and show one kind of boot (usual rubber), one kind of helmet, one kind of glove. Maybe if one were lucky and there was a store nearby that sold the needed gear, but the options were limited. Internet and e-commerce The advent of the internet and e-commerce changed everything when it came to buying fire gear. Suddenly, firefighters had options. For example, need a new pair of boots? They chose from...

TheFireStore, a source for firefighting equipment and supplies, is thrilled to exclusively offer the new Nightstick INTRANT Intrinsically Safe Multi-Function Dual-Light Tilting Head Angle Light. Assists in hazardous conditions Available exclusively from TheFireStore during the month of January, this small, compact, multi-functional light can assist firefighters in all types of hazardous conditions. Its tilting head angle light rotates 90 degrees up and down with a 45-degree, downward-angl...