How to Care for Fire Resistant Clothing

Fire resistant clothing is a mandatory piece of gear that many workplaces require. Primarily, oil & gas and electrical industries should closely follow the rules and make sure their employees are properly wearing their safety gear. OSHA keeps a close eye on these industries and often fines and legally punishes those that don’t follow the rules, laws and regulations. FR clothing satisfies the NFPA 2112 and/or the NFPA 70E safety standards. NFPA 2112 is for general flame resistant gear, and NFPA 70E is for arc rated FR equipment that electricians use.

While providing and replacing damaged gear is the responsibility of the employers, most of the time, the employees are the ones that are responsible for ensuring proper care, cleaning and maintenance of PPE. That is why we’ve researched the topic and tried to write a people-first, companies-second post that should answer all your questions related to cleaning your flame-resistant uniform. These answers might save your life one day, as flame resistant gear requires dedicated care to stay efficient.

In order to properly wash FR gear follow these steps:

1. Wash in a normal or cotton cycle. Generally, most FR clothes are washed at 140 degrees, using regular laundry detergent.
2. Turn your clothes inside out. This will help preserve their fire-resistant qualities.
3. Wash your FR clothing separately from any other garments. Not doing so might damage the fire retardant treating of the clothes, or damage the hi-vis components of the clothing.
4. Do not use any bleach, vinegar or any other additives.
5. Do not use fabric softeners, starch or any other additives.
6. If possible, let them air dry. Do not over dry the clothes.
7. Hard water is very bad for FR clothing, as it can deposit into small packets of magnesium and calcium. These are flammable.

We’ve provided the general rules, but please double-check with the tag located on the inside of your clothes. Always consult the clothes tag, the manufacturer knows best.

The best thing you can do if you get your FR garment dirty, is to take them right away to spot clean them. First, brush off any dry debris. Using mild soap and water, sponge off dirt. Dry the spot with a clean dry cloth and rub gently to avoid damaging the fabric.

If your suit is stained, it should be washed right away, as the stains are flammable and might put you in danger. Use regular non-bleach laundry detergent and hot water and scrub at the stain until it is removed. Do not use bleach, vinegar or any other product. Do not use regular soap.

In the rare case of stains that can’t be scrubbed away, dry cleaning may remove them. If nothing helps, you should replace your uniform, as it has become unsafe and can no longer offer adequate fire protection.

In order to patch a hole in a fire-resistant garment, you need to use the same material the suit’s made out of. While it’s tempting to just patch it yourself, manufacturers use special fire-resistant thread that won’t catch on fire.

It’s best that you send the garment back to the manufacturer for repairs. Some manufacturers sell FR repair kits that you can use to fix your clothes. If the fire resistant clothing is seriously worn out and can’t be easily patched, it’s best to throw it away and buy new protective clothing.

Do not spay DEET on FR clothing. DEET is flammable and it will make the protective clothing unsafe. Spray DEET on the skin. Most bug sprays have a petrochemical spray carrier that is flammable, even if the bug repellent isn’t flammable.

It’s best to not take any risks and use permethrin, which is not flammable. Permethrin stays active for quite a while, can be machine washed up to 30 times, and is just as effective.

There are no dumb questions when safety is involved. We’ll list a quick how-to guide to properly wearing fire-resistant gear, and answer some frequently asked questions there.

Remember, always button your FR clothes up and cover yourself as much as you can.
Never roll your sleeves up no matter how hot it is. You’re risking having your forearms severely burned. Keep your FR clothing tucked in so that the fire can’t enter a gap in between your upper layer and your pants.

Layering FR clothes gives you a lot more protection against flash and arc fires, because not only are you protected by multiple layers of flame-resisting material, but you have small layers of air in between them. As long as it’s not too hot or bulky, you can wear as many layers as you want.

Does that mean you can just simply add the required arc flash protection level? No, it won’t be that easy or precise, and you should use the proper clothes for the job and not rely on guesswork.

The FR clothing will protect your regular cotton or silk undergarments from catching on fire. You have to tuck them in and not leave any non-FR clothing uncovered, or else it might catch on fire and seriously harm you.

Even if it is allowed, it’s much better to have FR underwear and base layers. There’s a very low chance of the fire penetrating your protective outwear, and then igniting your underwear. This can be exceptionally dangerous and even fatal in some rare cases.

If you are wondering whether you can mix and match the protective gear with regular clothes, the answer is no. In the case of a flash or arc fire, your non-flame-resistant garment will catch fire and you might be grievously harmed. Unless all your outer layer clothes are FR, you’re not protected from fire. You can wear a layer of regular clothes under the FR clothes (though it is not advised to), but you can’t wear FR pants with a regular jacket.

In the rare event of a fire penetrating your Nomex clothing, your flammable clothes you’re wearing underneath might catch on fire.

This is not good idea, as flame-resistant gear usually lasts from a year to 5 years, with some rare gear that lasts up to 20 years. Most FR garments loses its effectiveness after 25-50 wash cycles. When you buy used gear, you don’t know how well the person washed them, used them, and how many more wash cycles it can take.

Used flame-resistant gear is less effective and safety should be your #1 priority. Buying and using used FR gear is not against the law, but it might be against OSHA regulations.

In conclusion, buying used fire-resistant clothes is just not as safe as buying new ones.

In short, FR fabric doesn’t allow flame to easily burn it and consume it. FR fabric does this by using naturally flame-resistant materials (like Kevlar or Nomex) or treating some other material via a chemical process (making fire resistant 100% cotton clothes). Some FR fabrics have a chemical reaction that “chokes” the fire out of oxygen, while others expand and don’t allow the flames or the heat to pass and harm the wearer. Most FR fabric is often effective only once, and after the suit saves the wearer, it is then discarded.

Similar to how bullet-proof vests work, you shouldn’t wear a used, burned or charred FR garment that’s not as effective and might not save you.

Predominantly, the Oil & Gas industry workers, electricians, utility workers like linemen, firemen, and combustible dust industries. The workers are often at risk of fires, arc fires or flash fires.

Arc fires are what happens when an electrical circuit short-circuits and releases a lot of heat, sparks, molten metal and energy. Arc flashes can reach temperatures of around 35,000 degrees, which is hotter than the surface of the Sun, but they only reach these heats for an incredibly short time. That’s enough to singe and penetrate most clothing, and make it burn, often grievously injuring the individual.

Flash fires are fires that happen when the air is rich with combustible material, like wheat dust or natural gas; these fires are explosive and quick, but thankfully they only last a short time. FR suits save people caught in these fires by being able to chemically react to such quick flames, where regular clothes would’ve caught fire and seriously harmed the wearer.

In short, Fire-Resistant material is inherently fire resistant at a molecular level (like Kevlar and Nomex), while Fire-Retardant material is treated to become fire resistant via a chemical process. There’s a lot of discussion to which is better, and this discussion is moot.

Most modern FR clothing is made from a blend of both, utilizing the best material in the best place to maximize the comfort and breathability of the wearer. Long gone are the days of dedicated, cumbersome and uncomfortable Arc suits as these new FR clothing is far more comfortable to wear and work in.

If the clothes are comfortable, there’s a higher chance the workers will use them; thus, there’s a higher chance of these garments saving lives at work

Fire-resistant suits will burn after being exposed long enough to a flame, and are meant to protect the wearer from arc and flash fires. The time needed to make them combust is about a minute or two, which is very good compared to regular clothing that’ll start to burn in seconds.

Fireproof suits are those fire proximity suits designed to protect a firefighter or a volcanologist from the extreme heat of a volcano or a raging inferno. Those silver bunker suits are truly fireproof, not fire resistant.

Arc Rated clothing is capable of withstanding the horrific arc fire, which can get really hot and spew molten metal at the operator. All Arc-rated clothing is flame resistant and can withstand flash fires, while not all flame-resistant clothes can withstand the immense power and hear of an electric arc.

Some FR clothing that isn’t AR (Arc Rated) might catastrophically fail if there’s an Arc Fire and harm the wearer. It’s important to wear the proper protective clothing for the task at hand.

Arc Rated clothing is capable of withstanding the horrific arc fire, which can get really hot and spew molten metal at the operator. All Arc-rated clothing is flame resistant and can withstand flash fires, while not all flame-resistant clothes can withstand the immense power and hear of an electric arc.

Some FR clothing that isn’t AR (Arc Rated) might catastrophically fail if there’s an Arc Fire and harm the wearer.

It’s important to wear the proper protective clothing for the task at hand.

There are 12 Arc flashes happening daily in the USA, and around 2000 brave workers end up in the ER every year. FR clothing is the last line of defense against a sudden, searing hot flame. Without these clothes, there would be many more men sent to the burn center, and sadly, there would be a lot more fatalities too.

Flame resistant clothing turns third and fourth degree burns that can kill into second degree burns that aren’t life threatening and easily treatable. If FR gear is improperly maintained and washed, it could lose its FR properties, and instead of saving people it would aid in burning them. Stay vigilant and be prepared to fix FR gear, and when it’s too worn out, damaged, stained or old, be ready to replace it.

It is very important to take good care of your gear so that it could take great care of you.