A Heat Transfer Model for Firefighters’ Protective Clothing, Continued Developments in Protective Clothing Modeling

In the year 2000, a paper entitled “A Heat Transfer Model for Firefighters’ Protective Clothing” was published in Volume 36, No. 1, of Fire Technology, and it received the 2001 Harry C. Bigglestone Award for Excellence in Written Communication of Fire Protection Concepts from The Fire Protection Research Foundation. Since the publication of this paper, there has been additional development of the heat transfer model. The radiant heat transfer element has been refined, and the model can now address predictions of heat transfer through wet protective clothing materials. Additionally, there has been an extension of the thermal properties database for fabric materials used to manufacture firefighters’ protective clothing. These improvements have significantly expanded the capabilities of the model and provide users with a more robust tool for economically predicting thermal protective clothing performance.