Firefighter's helmet light

[mwaldron]

Over the weekend my ARES group provided support for an annual event called the Power Climb hosted by the American Lung Association. For those of you unfamiliar with this type of event I'll give a brief explanation. The organizers typically find the tallest building they can (44 stories in my case) and make a contest out of who can get to the top quickest, using the stairs. Everyone has an RFID tag attached to their shoe and they are started at 15 second intervals. Pass on the right.


What does this have to do with flashlights? Very little actually, but the event draws some groups of people. One of those groups are firefighters. They do the run in full gear: full tanks, suits, etc. Everything. It's amazingly impressive. I have always had a lot of respect for firefighters but watching them do this for the last few years is truly awe inspiring.


Anyway, back to flashlights.


Watching the firefighters run past, I noticed a few things about their gear. Since they were from all around the state of Iowa, they were mostly in groups and each group had different types of gear. Some had metal (steel?) tanks, some had what appeared to be fiberglass composite, some had what looked like carbon composite tanks. Most had flashlights mounted to their helmets, and all that had helmet lights had the exact same host. It was a rectangular neon yellow body (unknown material) with a tail pushbutton switch.


I started thinking about the conditions this light is exposed too. It's exposed to extremely high temperatures, a decent amount of vibration, it's mount is such that it wouldn't surprise me if it gets beat quite a bit just ramming into things. It has to cut through all manner of smoke and provide a great deal of illumination.


I couldn't get a good look at most of them, but I did have 1 fireman stop on my floor and I was able to look at it a bit more closely. I was startled to see that his was LED! I can't be sure about the primary bulb, but it had a ring of what appeared to be 3mm led's (6 or 8) built into the reflector like a SF A2 or Streamlight Twin-Task.


So what are these lights? I googled for a few different terms but mostly I saw various led light bars that would go around the helmet, I did see 1 picture with one of these lights in it, but it wasn't they product they were discussing so it was ignored.


What kind of batteries do they use to stand up to the thermal extremes? It almost looks like the host could be a 4xAA in 2x2 configuration.


Any insight?

 

[sadtimes]

http://www.blackjackholder.com/

most likely used that holder with one of the lights that they are designed for... there's only like 3 different ones...

 

[Skyeye]

I think you will find that this is the most popular firemen's flashlight.
http://www.allhandsfire.com/page/AHF/PROD/Flashlights_Garrity/GL-2732

 

[TexLite]

Most likely a Streamlight,probably a ProPoly,found here:http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=119

The smaller Streamlight rechargeables similar to these use Nicad.The Nicad have lower capacity than Nimh,but have the advantage of being very robust,which is crucial in an environment such as the one where these lights are used.They can be run dead over and over without being adversely affected and can be recharged with very high currents.

Streamlight also now use Luxeon K2 TFFC emitters,the efficiency of these emitters are slightly lower than current Cree and SSC,but are more tolerant of high heat,which is obviously crucial to a light being used in such extreme environments.

-Michael

 

[Marduke]

Most likely one of the incarnations of the Streamlight ProPoly.

 

[sadtimes]

I think you will find that this is the most popular firemen's flashlight.
http://www.allhandsfire.com/page/AHF/PROD/Flashlights_Garrity/GL-2732

your kidding right? lmfao

 

[Tjin]

As a ex fireman, i haven't used any of the above. Peli's are very populair, since they are waterproof, have big switches, are bright yellow, many mounts availible and are ATEX certified.

 

[Bruce B]

I think you will find that this is the most popular firemen's flashlight.
http://www.allhandsfire.com/page/AHF/PROD/Flashlights_Garrity/GL-2732

As a backup light, secured to your helmet with a large rubber band with two wooden wedges adjacent to it, yes it is a popular setup, but as a primary light... I think NOT! The FD around here uses the "Big Ed" lights by Pelican that hang by a carabiner from their turnout coats, with the Garrity lights being secured to their helmets in the fashion mentioned above.

 

[mwaldron]

It looks like they were all using the stream light pro polys, although the one I saw up close was the newer LED model.

I'm amazed they have LEDs in them that would increase visibility in a smoky environment.

Thanks for all the links, I read through most of them last night!

 

[pec50]

UK eleds are also popular. Most of the lights are selected for ease of use particularly with heavy leather lined gloves. A narrow beam seems to better cut through the smoke. In dense smoke, however, the lights are useless and other techniques for search and navigation are used and, in fact, conditioned through continual training often with the air masks blacked-out to vision. Because vision can be so compromised, the newer air masks (SCBA) have leds to monitor levels in addition to the traditional audible alarms.

Simplicity in design is important in high stress settings;elaborate switching methods are shunned as there are too many other job-related and life threatening issues that must be addressed. Entry into hot environments is typically less than twenty minutes but varies based on tank air, activity, and the intensity of the heat. Because of the heat, the light bodies are typically non-metallic. And, waterproof design is important. Hence, you will find firefighters using proven, very simple, and extremely durable lights.

By example ... you are extinguishing your next campfire with water, drop your light into the hot wet steaming ashes, retrieve the light with heavy gloves, turn it on ... that's the light the firefighter wants.

 

[11mongo11]

You said neon yellow body and I remembered my 3 C cell Pelican. I saw smaller models at the store the other day with a tailcap switch. I miss that light. Can't decide what to replace it with.

 

[MarkIAlbert]

your kidding right? lmfao

You'd be surprised. In our department, we typically have articulated Streamlight lamps for our bunker jackets and either Fire Vulcan or Kohler/Brightstar handhelds.

For helmet lights, the group is divided between those who want cheap and disposable (like the ones identified here) or mid-range reliable (like the rectangular Streamlight helmet lights).

A few of us have some specialized solutions. Our assistant chief uses a Petzl headlamp. I have a Peak first responder running off of 2-18500s stuffed into a Streamlight rubber-band style helmet mount. The First Responder is not appropriate for heat or deep smoke, but is perfect for night-time rescue calls (e.g. MVA) - Floody, adjustable with gloves and bright as hell. Good run time too.

I'd love to see streamlight come out with a highly focused 200+ lumen headlamp suitable for interior work, but like PEC50 said, once the smoke gets thick, the lights are pretty much useless.

 

[sygyzy]

The Climb sounds SO MUCH FUN. I tried finding a local event but it looks like it's only in the midwest. What the heck. This would be a great fundraiser.

 

[KarstGhost]

My brother in law is a fire fighter and he claims that the Garrity disposable lights are very popular among firemen to attach to helmets. I can't imagine why though, seems like they would melt under extreme conditions and you'd have hot cheap Garrity goo burning down the side of your face.

 

[MarkIAlbert]

My brother in law is a fire fighter and he claims that the Garrity disposable lights are very popular among firemen to attach to helmets. I can't imagine why though, seems like they would melt under extreme conditions and you'd have hot cheap Garrity goo burning down the side of your face.

Yup. Lot's of folks use the Garity - Cheap and disposable. I believe they are sold in 5-packs.

As to them melting, You'd have to pretty much have your head deep in the devil's tongue for that light to drip down your face. For the record - that's not a good thing; even fully suited up.

More common is that the light gets disfigured and stops working. When that happens, you toss it out and pop in another.

Remember, most fire departments supply lights (like the Fire Vulcan) that are OSHA (et. al.) compliant. The (unapproved) Garity is typically purchased by (underpaid) firefighters with their own money.

 

[Kraeken]

Those Garrity lights used to be extremely popular, but I don't see them around here too much anymore. They do melt easily, and its also not uncommon for a guy to have one on his helmet for years, and not realize it doesn't work anymore.

Firemen are cheap, and usually not flashaholics! We often buy whatever is on sale at the hardware store.

 

[MarkIAlbert]

Those Garrity lights used to be extremely popular, but I don't see them around here too much anymore. They do melt easily, and its also not uncommon for a guy to have one on his helmet for years, and not realize it doesn't work anymore.

Firemen are cheap, and usually not flashaholics! We often buy whatever is on sale at the hardware store.

We have a few who still use them. Most of the others either have articulated streamlights or simply grab one of the lanterns mounted in the rigs. And, if I'm not mistaken, I am probably the only member of the department who actually knows that the lanterns we use have LEDs in them.

 

[T0RN4D0]

I just want to mention that some of you are over complicating with the heat issue. The lights are mounted an inch or two from their heads, if the light is melting or seriously overheating, then they probably have a more serious problem...

It does have to be robust tho, but doesnt have to be fireproof. Meat fries ten times sooner than aluminium melts.

 

[Kraeken]

Definitely not overcomplicating.

Even a flash of extreme heat will melt stuff on a helmet. Flashlights, and other stuff, melt on helmets all the time. I think many non firefighters underestimate the amount of heat that is often encountered in a fire. We work in these conditions with no problem.

 

[bcrewcaptain]

x10 on the Garrity, I have tried many, come back to the garrity tucked in my helmet strap, 2 pack is 5 bucks.
I have yet to find an LED that was was happy with in a nice nasty smoke situation(I tend to spend more time without the line than with, so I get stuck with all the nasty stuff before it gets vented. Extreme heat, heavy smoke...a high powered light just makes everything a glaring mess, this is one of those situations where you don't need distance and a white light is not the best choice either...