Firefighter Autopsy Protocol - US Fire Administration - Federal ...

■ Firefighter Autopsy Protocol
■ 165 ■
I: Background ■
■ liner pullout; and
■ signs of wear, damage, excessive heat, discoloration, or char on leather/fabric (both exterior and
interior).
Protective Footwear (Rubber)
■ loss of elasticity;
■ delamination of seam seals;
■ material damage;
■ steel toe or shank damage;
■ sole tread wear; and
■ loss of liquid-tight integrity (waterproofness).
Protective Footwear (Leather)
■ seam integrity;
■ material damage (rips, tears, holes);
■ steel toe or shank damage;
■ sole tread wear;
■ loss of liquid-tight integrity (waterproofness);
■ closure system;
■ uniform integrity;
■ seam integrity;
■ material damage (rips, tears, holes);
■ closure system; and
■ signs of wear, damage, excessive heat, discoloration, or char on fabric.
Protective clothing and equipment experts may be required. On occasion, certain garments and equipment
may need to be sent out to testing labs for verification that it meets the current set of applicable standards
to which the item was certified; however, judgment must be applied if the specific property being
measured would be a contributory factor to the firefighter fatality. Other reasons for testing would be to
determine whether the item in question was operating properly and, if not, whether it contributed to the
incident.
Once the items have been impounded by the investigation team and their condition documented,
outside assistance should be requested. All issues involving SCBA testing should be handled by NIOSH.
Other protective clothing and equipment testing may be conducted by appropriately qualified experts
or independent testing laboratories. Impounded items should be transferred to the testing laboratory
following strict chain-of-custody procedures. The testing laboratory should be asked to compare the item
performance at the time of the incident with the performance requirements of the appropriate NFPA
standard. The independent expert or laboratory may be asked further to determine the range of heat and
temperature conditions to which the item may have been exposed. The testing laboratory’s report should
be summarized in the body of the investigation report and attached as an appendix to the report.