When it comes to fighting fires, the training and the tools matter. That’s why replacing some older gear is important to Lt. Jamison Verdin of Middletown’s fire department.
“A lot of fire fatality reports that you read -- sometimes bad gear led to that so we want to make sure that everybody’s in gear that protects them the best it can,” Verdin said.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, a fire department’s gear must be replaced every ten years. That means gear manufactured in 2003 expired in 2013. But ten years is a long time for a 73-person department that responds to 12,000 fire calls annually. Verdin said the gear won’t last that long.
“Our gear won’t hold up to ten years, so a lot of the guys had seven or eight years use of the gear,” he said. “Those were the ones identified who needed gear to be replaced.”