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Comment by noodlesUK | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a firefighter (nor do I know much about firefighting), but I really enjoy seeing the differences in these sorts of specialised equipment across the world. Even the uniforms are pretty different (which a layperson would probably notice when visiting). The helmets used by North American firefighters are very distinctive, whereas European helmets look more like daft punk or fighter pilots.

I'd love to see this sort of comparison on other jobs you'd think would be the same. I'm also curious what differences there are in other parts of the world like Asia or South America.

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> The helmets used by North American firefighters are very distinctive, whereas European helmets look more like daft punk or fighter pilots.

See:

* https://www.firehouse.com/safety-health/ppe/helmets/article/...

Podcast that discusses things:

> The battle over the traditional fire helmet and what I’ll call the “Eurohelmet” is growing, as some U.S. departments are making the switch. It’s hard to nail down exactly why firefighters are unhappy about wearing the new style helmets. After all, they’re safer, they weigh less, and they offer better eye protection.

* https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/personal-protectiv...

The euro helmets are so much nicer. I think it will eventually catch on in more of the US.

But as the sign in the kitchen in Backdraft says about the fire service:

150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress.

I was a firefighter-paramedic for 14 years before I left in 2020. You are spot on about the 150 years of tradition. But I don't think euro style helmets will ever catch on in the U.S.

The department I worked for did not care what helmet a person used as long as it was NFPA approved for firefighting. We had one Lieutenant with 20+ years of service who switched to the Euro style and he absolutely loved it. Said it was the most comfortable helmet he ever wore.

I can tell you a traditional American style helmet is very uncomfortable and when I was in full bunker gear with an air pack on, the back of my helmet always hit my air tank not allowing me to look up very well.

During training when we would have to repel we had a safety belay attached to the back of the class 3 harness. As soon as you went over the side the belay rope would push the back of the helmet up causing the head to push forward (chin to chest). Just completely uncomfortable and awkward. You had to spend a few seconds to get adjusted so you could focus on the actual training and getting yourself unfucked from the belay rope that wouldn't be there in an actual situation.

US firefighter-EMT here. I was under the impression that our "duck tail" helmets were designed to shed water. If so, that was long before we had modern insulated water-resistant bunker gear. And water is not really that big a problem anyway so yeah, we should probably switch to the European style.

Yeah I was told that in the early days, when the fire was out and they were overhauling, they would wear the helmets backwards because of the longer brim thus helping to keep water and debris out of their face.

Found a quite good article about differences on the helmets (and some other firefighting techniques like fognails) in https://www.firehouse.com/safety-health/ppe/helmets/article/...

This fognail video was quite interesting also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe_V7aLyzM8

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