New manikin for testing firefighting protective wear

Over the years, the Textile Protection and Comfort Center (T-PACC) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., has offered safe, controlled, repeatable testing of firefighting protective wear using PyroMan, a manikin with sensors that aid computer analysis of tissue burns. PyroMan, torched regularly in the pursuit of science, works well testing gear for structural fires, where direct burns are the main injury. However, wildfires expose firefighters to an additional risk—radiant heat from huge fires being battled for long periods under sometimes extreme weather conditions. Gear that works for wildfire firefighting needs to protect wearers from heat stress and ongoing radiant heat impacts. Enter the next generation of test manikin: RadMan, designed to “benchmark existing materials used in wildland clothing in an unprecedented way,” according to Roger Barker,T-PACC director.