Burn injuries to fire fighters could be reduced if there were greater knowledge about the full range of heat and moisture conditions that exceed the natural limits of thermal protection provided by turnout gear. The Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) sent its Director of Human

  Performance, Lt. Kevin S. Malley, to work with NIST scientists to understand and measure the amount of protection offered by different materials and clothing assemblies. Lt. Malley worked on the USFA funded development of a new test apparatus to measure temperatures rise through wet and

   dry fire fighters’ protective garments including the effects of compression. Lt. Malley was especially concerned with measuring the performance of different knee pads. For more information contact Lt. Kevin Malley, (1) + 718-999-1946.

Mr. J. Randall (Randy) Lawson of NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory, and Dr. William (Ruddy) E. Mell have been announced as the winners of the 2001 Harry C. Bigglestone Award for Excellence in Communications for their publication of the pioneering work on developing an accurate and flexible model of heat transfer through protective clothing for fire fighters. The study was funded jointly by NIST and USFA. 

 Since the completion of this work at NIST, Dr. Mell has moved to the University of Utah. The award winning paper, Heat Transfer Model for Fire Fighter’s Protective Clothing, appeared in Fire Technology, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2000. The Bigglestone Award, sponsored by the Fire Protection Research Foundation (NFPRF), Quincy, MA, is presented to the authors of the best 

 paper submitted to Fire Technology during the previous year. The award and invited lecture are presented at the 2001 National Fire Protection Association’s Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California. For more information contact Randy Lawson, (1) + 301-975-6877 or jlawson@nist.gov; or Ruddy Mell, (1) + 801-585-3926 or ruddy@eng.utah.edu.

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David Evans
Email: editor@fire.gov
Phone: 301-975-6897
Fax: 301-975-4052

Bob McCarthy
Email: Bob.McCarthy@fema.gov
Phone: 301-447-1130
Fax: 301-447-1093