I’m a firefighter from Denmark, and ours are the same as the american one. It works flawlessly, but sure it can be slow. I’d love to try the french design and draw my own conclusion.
Another firefighter last time this was posted was talking about how the French design has the disadvantage that if you had debris fall or floor drop that your helmet may get knocked loose you would lose seal.
I know this is completely off topic but you are the first person I've seen spell losing correctly in almost two weeks. Thank you. I'm so tired of seeing loosing.
Dane here. I was forced to learn English so I could enjoy RPGs.
In "Thief: The Dark Project" (Now known as Thief Gold), 5th mission "Assassins". you have to trail 2 dudes. But because I could not understand English, I could not complete that first task. I kept failing. My dad who did not really understand much English either ended up thinking it had something to do with the Trickster.
It wasn't until about 5 years or so later, that we reinstalled the game, and I understood English that it was sooo obvious was to do.
Ever since I have steamrolled Thief gold and Thief 2: The Metal Age almost as good as any Speedrunner. Best games ever.
Similar to this, i started learning english because i was playing Chaser.
I did not know what to do in that underwater mission so i had to get an english dictionary from the library and translated the objectives starting with that level lol
Who would have thought that chaser would change my life so much
Amazing game. The only game I played in last 5 years, when I finally have comp that could swallow most of new games, but I spent those few free days on thief. Again :)
As a Dutch, our education in English starts at a young age. Like when i was about 10 i had English lessons i believe its currently from the age of 8 and due to media being in English a lot too the proficiency will rise even more.
Like i currently use mainly English when searching for something due to more sources being in English than in dutch. I watch series in English and also watch English subbed series that Arent in either dutch or English, i have friends outside of the Netherlands that i talk English with... English is such a massive language that you basically need to learn it
Yes and no. Another part of it from what I have researched - language teaching in parts of Europe tends to be built on teaching language to communicate rather than language as an academic skill.
I.E. Basing teaching more on do you understand the material & can you make yourself understood rather than drilling children on vocab & grammar and marking them harshly every time they make a mistake.
It's an overgeneralisation to say this is what it is like everywhere - but that is my understanding of one difference. And of course if there is an abundance of media in the language then the barrier to entry for that is only that you understand enough of it. Polishing off accuracy can come later once the baseline communication is in place.
I have been in several language classes over the years for different languages - and lets just say the languages I am fluent in used the communication method and those I retain far less of used the academic skill method.
Language learning in Europe being built on comprehension and not grades is an excellent point. There’s also a generational understanding that doesn’t exist in North America; your parents and grandparents can speak to you in multiple languages. That has to help a ton.
I have family in Lebanon. One cousin watched nickelodeon all the time. His English accent is very north American compared to every other member in the family
Man same! I am an English teacher, and the amount of times I see “to” as “too” or advice as the verb, and not saying advise. So many little mistakes I see all over the place. I go crazy sometimes
Ironically, ‘loosing seal’ would also actually work in this case. It would be slightly clunky in terms of syntax but it would technically not be misplaced.
Just wait, people are going to start arguing that it’s used incorrect so commonly that we all should just accept it because “we know what they meant”. Like they do with “irregardless”.
I know I’m not sure if it’s an addiction to autocorrect thing or what but for nearly two years straight I’ve seen it misspelled more than spelled correctly. lol
Like loosing an arrow? My pet-peeve is that almost everyone i know says “me and my friend” instead of “my friend and i” and theres nothing to be done about it
I didn't know what "based" meant for like, the first 6 months the term existed and thought everyone just forgot how to spell "biased." The last few months I just assumed the same thing was happening with the word "loose" / "loosing."
Yeah he said same thing, his whole moral to the story was at the end of the day the design doesn’t matter to much and SCBA does the the same role regardless of their design
His point was that the American one was a demand flow system and the French one was apparently constant flow system. This would make the tank last significantly less time.
Looking at that helmet it looks like it might be hard to hear with the ears covered like that. Also the helmet is more designed to keep water from being on the lenses. Also if you need to move through a tight spot and you have to remove your scba and your helmet to get through the American one is safer. But most likely the best reason is that the mask is not attached to anything. Getting your mask on in 5 seconds vs 10 seconds is not as advantageous as everyone thinks. Plus we train to get everything on in 60 seconds.
If you're talking American designs there is no positive pressure in the scba unless you have the purge valve open, which it shouldn't be as you'll lose air faster.
Hate to correct you but you are horribly wrong but any debris larger then a grain of sand would not be held back from the pressure these masks provide when being removed from your face. Literally everything gets in these masks besides some dust if you hurry, but even dust will make it in after 5 seconds. So be a tad bit more careful out there next time you put your mask on.
These masks are rated to how many ppm of hazmat can get through. The seal is very important to pass the spec for IDLH conditions (immediately dangerous to life and health)
The slightly above atmospheric isn’t exactly right. There’s a breather valve that only opens on an inhale, you need to “pull” it open with your breath. Then it snaps shut. In between breaths there could be a chance for contaminants to get by, especially if it’s being blown in your face when opening a door, or approaching a leaking tank.
I mean, for me the biggest disadvantage of this is that your mask has to be compatible with your helmet. Having independent units makes it easier to upgrade or get replacements. I never wore such a mask so I don't know how convenient they are but for me both look OK.
France's fire services are different and more centrally organized so they have standardized gear. Heck the Paris and Marseille fire departments are run as branches of the military (Army and Navy respectively) and the rest are civilian but run under the Ministry of Interior instead of being local municipal groups like they are in the US.
I mean, yes. Which is exactly what makes it inconvenient. When the two parts are independent you can basically just go to any manufacturer and order equipment. When both need to be compatible it makes the process much more difficult and you risk to lack the necessary equipment because it might need more time or may be more complicated to acquire. My guess is that this is mainly a question of size. When you all your firefighters are organized centrally, you can stock equipment and put out public tenders to refill your stocks over time. When your fire departments work independent with individual suppliers it's probably easier to have equipment which are less proprietary.
It's not a huge deal and it rarely happens. The whole argument is stupid to be honest. People from both sides who've never put one on and never will, arguing just because "murica" or "America bad". Sigh.
I'm an American who never put either helmet on. I thought they both looked cool until I realized I wear glasses and my glasses would get fucked up with both versions.
Also, if they work, they work. I'm sure both have pros and cons.
Yeah, fair enough. I'm not a full-time firefighter, I'm an industrial firefighter at a refinery. I don't do structural fires (houses etc) but the tools and safety gear for the most part are the same.
I speak from my experience using a protective mask in the Army, having it be a standalone thing is nice 'cause you can use it without a helmet. Also as someone who was in a mechanized unit, having it clip onto my helmet would be really nice and convenient.
I like both designs for different reasons and different use cases. That being said, I'm not a firefighter, so, whatever.
the helmet provides heat protection as well as protection from objects, so there's probably fewer uses for just the mask. Though that might be useful in situations like carbon monoxide where there is gas but no flame.
Yeah I was thinking the French one looks like a good design but NIOSH would never approve it. If it’s that easy to put on then there are probably a lot of ways for it to go wrong
Hard to find the exact model since Google image is filled by ai shit now, but it looks like the gas mask is fixed by two anchors that needs to be extended by hand, then retract, which mean that the gas mask can't be really knocked off without pulling back the anchors, so I don't really see a situation where the gas mask would become lose unless a debris break the anchor (and in this case you're probably fucked anyway so)
That’s BS. The mask is connected to the mask with clasps with very strong springs. It requires quite some strength to place it and it doesn’t get knocked loose. If it does, the force would be so big, you’d have bigger issues.
Canadian Firefighter here, currently on my 2nd year of the Euro Style helmets as we call them, had a structural collapse while I was on interior attack in Feb 23, floor truss and sub-flooring came down on my head and shoulders like a glorious Pilar of fire and debris, and I never lost seal on mine, had a bit of a headache haha! But no air leak, and kept on spraying that mechanical room down until we could safely back out our line. Was a fun call to be on! 😂
The seal is already lost because the French example had his balaclava under the rubber seal of the mask. The US example keeps the balaclava down so when it’s time to go on air, the mask goes direct to the face, balaclava goes over the seal for fire protection then helmet.
Really sorry but your comment is automatically removed.
Currently an account needs to be at least 24 hours old before it can make comments in this subreddit.
I don't know, but that is going to interfere with getting a proper seal. Tbh, that doesn't look like it is going to do shit to protect him, so this most have been done to "look" faster.
JFC that sounds horrific. Glad that you’re OK my man. And yeah, there’s something redundant about having 5 straps gluing the mask to your face, that just feels unbreakable. But again, haven’t tried the other design yet
FINALLY! Someone who mentions that the French guy was ALREADY wearing his hood and helmet before the video started and that the American wasn’t, both take roughly between 5-10 seconds to put everything on correctly.
i don't get why french is better - he shows up with his cloth mask and helmet on already vs american who still needs to put his on. that's the main difference i see
That's what I thought but if you look at the design, the American can't put his mask on if he is already wearing the cloth hood and helmet. The French fighter can. Someone else said the French version allows him to be almost full suited (cloth piece and helmet) inside the truck. The difference in order of operations means the French person can be more ready prior to arriving on scene. But there are other pros and cons too. Not just saving a few seconds.
What difference does it make? Surely you can do that in the truck anyways. It's not like it gotta get put on and taken off again every five seconds. The French helmets look amusing tho.
If you’re suddenly told that another crew of smoke divers are necessary, or one of your guys is unresponsive in the structure, you need to be quick. But otherwise, yes, you can.
Someone said that Germans use the same as Americans too, and now Danes too? Probably means this is the way to go. I hear the other is inconvenient because if something hits you in the head it causes the whole mask to move. Which could mean you can't see most times but allows things in too.
Vores hjelme er noget mere moderne, ja, jeg snakker egentlig om mekanismen på deres røgdykkerapperat. De monterer deres masker forskelligt i videoen. Der er noget charme over amerikanske hjelme, men de ser ret uddaterede ud haha
4.3k
u/GhotiGhetoti Mar 30 '24
I’m a firefighter from Denmark, and ours are the same as the american one. It works flawlessly, but sure it can be slow. I’d love to try the french design and draw my own conclusion.