Evaluation method for thermal protection of firefighters’ clothing in high-temperature and high-humidity condition: A review

The purpose of this paper is to provide the details of developments to researchers in test apparatus and evaluation methods to rate the thermal protective performance (TPP) of firefighters’ clothing under high-temperature and high-humidity condition.

This review paper describes the influence laws of moisture on thermal protection and the moisture distribution in actual fire environment. Different evaluation methods used for assessing the effect of moisture on the TPP were investigated, with an emphasis on test devices, evaluation indexes as well as their relationship and limitations.

The moisture from the ambient, clothing and human perspiration plays an important role in determining the TPP of firefighter protective clothing. It is obvious that research on moisture-driven heat transfer in firefighter’s clothing system are comparatively little, primarily focussing on pre-wetted methods of multi-layer fabric. Further studies should be conducted to develop more standardized moistening systems and improve the current calculation methods for evaluating the performance of protective clothing. New explorations for heat and moisture transfer mechanism in protective clothing should be investigated.

Protective clothing is the efficient way to provide fire-fighting occupational safety. To accurately evaluate the TPP of protective clothing under high-temperature and high-humidity condition will help to optimize the clothing performance and choose the proper clothing for providing firefighters with the best protection under multiple thermal hazards.

This paper is offered as a concise reference for scientific community further research in the area of the TPP evaluation methods under high-temperature and high-humidity condition.