Melanie Crumbaugh

Mr. Tyban

A8101

6 June 2014

Firefighting

General Purpose: To inform.

Specific Purpose: To teach my audience that firefighters are equipped with certain firefighter gear to help them to accomplish their tasks.

Central Idea: Having the right firefighter tools and equipment can dramatically increase the level of a firefighters safety.

Introduction: From the moment the tones drop firefighters have minutes to prepare. In addition to fighting actual fires, Firefighters must come in contact with smoke, water, collapsing floors, hot embers, and falling objects. Firefighters wear a full range of personal protective equipment to keep themselves safe on the job. This basic protection equipment consists of boots, pants, coat, helmet, a self-contained breathing apparatus, and gloves.

Transition: The first thing a Firefighter puts on are specific boots.

Body

I.) Steel toed insulated rubber boots.

a.) Waterproof firefighting boots are thick, natural rubber boots with rubber soles that function well on wet surfaces.

b.) They have handles at the top to help pull them on.

c.) The boots come up just below the knee.

Transition: As you can see the pants are rolled over the boots so they can both be put on in one fluent motion.

II.) Three distinct layers for coat and pants.

a.) The most important of the gear is the thermal liner because it takes the biggest impact on thermal protection and heat stress reduction.

b.) The next layer is the moisture barrier. These two layers account for 75% of the thermal protection performance of the gear.

c.) The last layer is the outer shell and its purpose is to protect the inner components of the gear from water, chemicals, and viral agents.

d) The pants and coats are lined with reflective stripes to help them be seen

e) The coat is also equipped with DRD or drag rescue device, which in an instance where a firefighter goes down the built in harness on the coat can be pulled to help drag a downed firefighter out.

Transition: The only thing the fire gear doesn’t cover is the head and neck, but this is where the nomax hood comes in.

III.) Nomax hood
a.) Can be worn under the hard hat as a protection against flame and electrical arcs.

c.) It protects the firefighters neck and head that the gear doesn’t cover.

Transition: In a fire, to protect their head from falling debris, a Firefighter must wear a helmet.

IV.) Helmet

a.) Helmet protects the head from falling objects or debris, which usually occur in burnt buildings.

b.) You can also identify the rank of firefighter based on the color of the helmet.

c.) The helmet is also equipped with a shield that is used for eye