Firefighters know that protective turnout gear can save their lives. Yet because there are several different attributes of protective performance, choosing the turnout gear system that best matches desired performance can be complicated. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have released a free software tool designed to help.

NIST’s Turnout Gear Selector software allows users to specify the relative importance of each of many performance attributes, including thermal protective performance; system weight; thickness; stiffness; breathability; and resistance the outer shell to abrasion, tearing and charring; or to use default values established at a 2005 NIST-hosted meeting. All turnout gear systems included in the analysis then are ranked in a bar chart based on how well they score. When the user changes the importance of an attribute, the ranking of turnout gear systems updates.

The software helps users understand tradeoffs among performance attributes. For example, one system may provide better thermal protection performance than another due to more insulation, but such a system thus may be heavier and perhaps stiffer. The software helps the user take all tradeoffs into account when making decisions.

Users also can access the software’s underlying performance data for 41 turnout coat systems, which include nine different outer shells, five moisture barriers, eight thermal liners and seven face cloth materials.

The software can be downloaded at the NIST Web site.