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Fall 2019 ▲ Vol. 9 Issue 3 ▲ Produced and distributed quarterly by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Where is Your Head At? By Travis Dotson Your head is important. Head injuries are bad. We do lots of stuff on the fire ground that exposes us to the risk of head injury. Let me reiterate—head injuries are a bad deal. Life-threatening goes without saying, but just as serious is the potential for drastically life-altering impacts. Chances are you have heard of Traumatic Brain Injury, most likely in reference to professional football players or combat veterans. This is serious stuff. Wildland firefighters regularly face conditions that could result in head injuries—like getting hit by Photo by Kari Greer rocks and trees or rolling over in a UTV. Have we accepted this? Let’s look in the pudding for the proof. Is what we wear the best there is? Is it the best we can do? This issue of Two More Chains is about helmets. (Yes, they are called helmets. See page 3.) Our heads matter. Are we doing enough to save our skulls? H E L M E T S History, Insights, Thoughts and Observations By Bre Orcasitas ardhats, helmets, bump caps, lids, brain buckets, whatever you want to call them, we all pop one on our heads before wandering around out in H the field, never really stopping to think much about what that helmet can withstand or which standards it’s supposed to meet. Slapping on a hardhat is akin to putting on your seatbelt. It eventually becomes a habit that leaves you feeling slightly naked if you were to be without one. Luckily, just as with seatbelts, most of us will never have to test the capacity of a helmet. But that doesn’t mean we should remain oblivious about what we’re jamming onto our head and why. After all, the brain is the body’s most valuable asset to protect. The History Part Excerpt from “Hot Facts of Life on the Fire Line” U.S. Forest Service, Missoula, Montana. Publication date unknown. As with all things, where we are today is a result of what came before. Prior to modern day helmets, the fire community went through many iterations. But it began with what I like to refer to as the “Gentleman’s Hat.” It was enough to keep the sun off, scoop up some water, and walk off the fireline feeling dandy. Yes, indeed, folks looked quite dapper back in the day. [Continued on page 3] Also in This Issue Ground Truths: Wear Your Helmet – Page 2 Smokejumper Helmet Evolution – Page 6 Shop Talk: Helmet Rules for ATV/UTVs – Pages 7-8 One of Our Own: Kevin Reese, Hit By a Tree Early day wildland firefighter fellas looking dapper in Then the Bureaucracy – Page 9 what Bre likes to call their “Gentleman Hats.” Your Feedback – Page 15 1 Ground By Travis Dotson Fire Management Specialist Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Truths [email protected] Wear Your Helmet ep, that’s it. This So the data says cinch- whole article is in up your helmet holder. the title. I’m done. Y Is that going to happen? But, obviously not, because the words are Nope. still going. Why? It’s like trying to hang up Because we don’t the phone with someone decide what to do who loves to talk, they based on data. We just keep going and it decide based on what gets kind of awkward. our peers think, or I’m still talking. I’m more likely, what we making this awkward. THINK our peers think. I’m that guy…watch. And chinstraps are not cool. Yet. Analysis: No Brainer I recently did some Real-Deal Leaders analysis. Transparency time: My I read every tree felling accident report on file since 2004. Then I intent here is that these started counting stuff. Like this: When firefighters get hit by words find their way to ONE supervisor who cares more about trees during felling operations, how often is it a knock to the spines than selfies. noggin? If you are in charge, make your sawyers wear chinstraps. (Hey Turns out that 51% of the time, the tree strike involved a direct suave sawyers: Sorry; Not sorry.) hit to the helmet. If some real-deal leaders step up, soon, the chinstrap “look” will So, IF you were to be smacked by a tree during a felling become associated with sawyers. We all want to be sawyers. operation, chances are good it will be a head shot. Before we know it, cool will shift. Simple analysis; simple conclusion: Wear your helmet. For those of you in the first wave, the ones who have to look No brainer. uncool because their boss made them, I totally understand if you give me that one-finger salute in fire camp. The Crazy Part Now, here is the crazy part. Your helmet works better if it stays I do understand that rocking a helmet does not guarantee on your head. Guess what helps keep your helmet on your head? anything in the survival department. And yes, we can make the Hint, it involves your mandible. I suck at hints. It’s that little case for better dome guards, but something is better than nothing. And that something works better if it stays put. piece of webbing, elastic, or p-chord typically reserved for helicopter rides. What the Title Should Be So, IF you were to use data to drive your decisions, you would So I lied. now be sure to put on your chinstrap before you dog into a face- The title doesn’t say it all. Plus, it’s a dumb title, because we are cut. In fact, you would strap-up even when sizing-up or prepping pretty good at wearing helmets. a falling operation, because people get whacked by trees before The title should be: Wear Your Chinstrap. they even pull chord (8% of the time). But that is a horrible title, because no one would read that You would also tie your helmet to your skull if you’re anywhere article. near falling operations, like prepping a road or pulling brush on a I just tricked you into reading about chinstraps. thinning project. Because, guess what, 15% of the time the person that got nailed wasn’t involved with the falling operation, See you in fire camp—I’ll keep an eye out for the sour sawyer but somehow ended up in the fall area. We’ve all done it, salute. whether pushing the limit on proximity for the sake of Swing on, Toolswingers. production, or just betting wrong on where the tree will land. 2 So, is it ‘Hardhat’ or ‘Helmet’? While the terms “hardhat” and “helmet” are used interchangeably when referring to the PPE that wildland firefighters plop onto their heads, the technical name is “helmet.” Godot Apuzzo, Equipment Specialist with the U.S. Forest Service’s National Technology and Development Program (NTDP), points out that “head protection devices are referred to as ‘helmets’ by national and international standardization organizations.” “The term ‘helmet,’” Apuzzo informs, “was adopted from standards organizations to provide consistent terminology and is very important when searching for technical details regarding head protection.” The Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations (Red Book) recognizes the importance of common terminology, Apuzzo explains. He adds that these standards are processed, [Continued from page 1] Of course, wildland firefighters weren’t the only ones lacking head approved, and periodically reviewed through protection in a profession that needed head protection. Why? Because you can’t use consensus and contain information regarding something that doesn’t yet exist. Once helmets finally did come along there was some helmet: scope, purpose, and limitations; confusion around how to feel about them. As depicted here, a soldier describes one compliance; definitions; types and classes; common reaction when first presented with a helmet: accessories; instructions and markings; “In 1915, armies hurriedly introduced helmets, widely known as ‘tin hats.’ The performance requirements; selection and soldiers found the new helmets comical. ‘We shrieked with laughter when we tried preparation of test samples; and test methods. them on as if they were carnival hats,’ according to one French soldier, but they cut So next time you refer to that important piece head injuries from 70 percent to 22 percent.” of PPE up there on your head, remember: It’s a (https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a28088179/army-helmet/) helmet. Cultural stigmas may have been present initially, but those were cast aside once people began to recognize the value of the helmet. So much so in fact, that there have since been studies observing the phenomenon of workers wearing hardhats when they aren’t even required. At some point, the hardhat became a symbol of pride for manual labor workers everywhere. “Dr. Rosenberg said hardhats had become associated with masculinity and patriotism. There was a confluence of social factors that made hardhats cool that has not happened with hearing protection or respirators, she said.” (From the New York Times article, The Evolution of the Hardhat.) Flashing forward to modern-day, it’s been 100 years since Edward W. Bullard developed the first hardhat in 1919, which was originally called the “Hard Boiled Hat.” The original version was made of steamed canvas, glue and leather with suspension soon to follow. Hardhats have been made from a variety of materials throughout the years such as leather, steel, aluminum, fiberglass, and now more recently thermoplastics and high- density polyethylene. Somewhere between the first hardhat in 1919 and everyone wanting to wear hardhats even if they didn’t need one, came an act of Congress in 1970 aimed at protecting workers on the job.