Loves Park Fire Dept. upgrades bunker gear with $23,000 in new equipment

LOVES PARK, Ill. (WTVO) — Loves Park Fire Department has received a long overdue safety gear upgrade.

The new gear is called “bunker gear” or “turnout gear” and is what keeps firefighters safe from flames.

Battalion Chief Jake LeClair said, “If we have the right gear that can protect us, that allows us to get in there and do our job effectively and not have to worry about going in and something in our gear failing. And we have to pull out of that fire early because of that situation.”

Some old sets of protective gear were getting close to retirement or were too damaged to repair.

“So each set of gear can last ten years. That’s their life cycle,” said Fire Chief James Hart. “And I would say on average, a set of turnout gear doesn’t last a full ten years. They get ripped, they get torn, they get damaged in fires and we repair everything as best we can But again, a ten-year life cycle is what we hope for. We don’t always reach that full ten years.”

In total, the fire department received six new sets of gear.

LeClair said it was a big upgrade from the sets he compared to wearing an oven mitt.

“There’s different materials that they use for the inner liner. So there’s an outer liner that will protect you, and then there’s an inner thermal layer that protects you as well,” he said. “And what these inner thermal layers, now, they’re they’re using new materials that will protect you from where if your sweat comes off, it’s not being contained as much. You’re breathing better, You’re not absorbing as much heat.”

The new equipment came at a price of $23,000, which was paid for by a Firehouse Subs Safety Foundation Grant.

Hart said, “For a small department like ours, $23,000 for six sets of turnout gear. That’s a that’s a lot to budget for for us. So anything we can apply for grant-wise or funding through the state or businesses like Firehouse Subs and their foundation, that really helps us out tremendously.”

Each year, Loves Park budgets for around 3-6 new sets of gear, but this year they are targeting 12 sets in total.