Chris Colgan, Retired Assistant Chief Fire Officer of Kent Fire & Rescue Service and former NFCC PPE lead, joined with Tim Wight Area Sales Manager and Firefighting PPE specialist at TEXPORT®, delivered an insightful and important conversation at this year’s ESS’s protecting the protector’s stage.

Their combined perspectives brought clarity to several issues shaping the future of firefighter protection. What emerged was a call for cultural change around PPE decontamination, turnaround times for laundering of kit and better fitting PPE for all.

Suppliers like us and manufacturers like Texport understand the challenges fire services face and we are here to help and support resolving these challenges together.

A New Lens for Chris Colgan after retirement on Culture, Contamination and Long-Latency Illness of firefighters.

Chris discussed the freedom retirement has granted to him with opportunity to focus more on the issues which during his role, he may not have had the capacity to focus more heavily on, with juggling multiple responsibilities of running a Fire and Rescue service. At the top of that list is attitudes toward PPE contamination and the long-term health outcomes of firefighters.

This imbalance demonstrates how the sector has historically placed disproportionate emphasis on preventing visible, short-term injuries — while less attention has been given to the slow, silent risks of carcinogenic exposure.

Female Firefighters and the Risks of Poor Fit

Despite progress, many female firefighters still receive helmets and garments designed around male body forms. Chris shared real-world accounts of female firefighters having to angle or hold their heads unnaturally simply to see and deal with the task in front of them — while operating in high heat, dense smoke, and life-threatening conditions.

“It’s like asking a professional footballer to play in cheap, ill-fitting boots — but expecting world-class performance.” Says Chris Colgan.

Fit is not a comfort preference, fit is safety and poorly designed PPE creates significant operational risk.

Tim Wight: “Fit for Form” and Listening to the Fire Service

Representing TEXPORT®, Tim Wight expanded on this with the manufacturer’s perspective.

He introduced the principle of “Fit for Form” — PPE engineered to fit every shape and every body, not just the historical average. This means accounting for:

· Body proportions

· Gender differences

· Movement patterns

· Heat stress profiles

· Role-specific functional needs

Tim reinforced that high-quality PPE is not built in isolation. It is built through true partnership with fire services — listening to firefighters, understanding pain points, and translating operational experience into better garment engineering.

Provision vs. Care: Over-Reliance on Supply, Under-Investment in Maintenance

A significant theme emerged when both speakers reflected on the current PPE model in many services. There has been a heavy reliance on provision — issuing more kit as the primary method of protecting firefighters.

However, less attention has been given to the care and maintenance of PPE. Chris emphasised that well-maintained PPE not only supports reducing waste, but most importantly helps reduce exposure to contaminants for firefighters. Longevity and cleanliness of fire kits are not secondary benefits — they are fundamental to help firefighters long term health outcomes.

During the Q&A segment, an audience member highlighted a challenge felt widely across the sector:

Fire services want to decontaminate kit more frequently — but doing so requires more spare stock to remain operational. More washes means more downtime and more pool stock is required. This creates additional cost pressure for already stretched budgets. A new answer is the award winning, faster, gentler and waterless decontamination, Deconology®.

This LCO₂+ technology directly addresses the fire sector’s pain points:

1. The Deconology® process is waterless meaning garments come out dry which reduces turnaround times, with faster turnaround, services will need less pool stock, alleviating operational strain.

2. Gentler Than Traditional Washing.

No high heat. No harsh chemicals. No aggressive mechanical action.

This preserves the performance layers within the garment (Based on NFPA testing), particularly:

· Moisture barriers

· Thermal liners

· Stretch panels

· Reflective trims

· Membranes designed to repel water

Using water-based laundry on PPE that is designed to repel water is simply not effective — Deconology® solves that.

3. Better Contaminant Removal.

Traditional water-based laundry methods only remove 15-40% of contaminants from PPE leaving dangerous toxins behind, (based on studies from The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health). Hunter’s Deconology® system achieves over 99% removal of harmful substances such as PAHs and PFAS, while also protecting the integrity of the garments, (Based on NFPA testing).

4. No Shrinkage of PPE.

Kits retain their original fit (Based on NFPA testing) — critical for both safety and comfort.

RFID Technology, Visibility and Operational Uptime: the TEXPORT® & HunterPAC® partnership

Tim highlighted that TEXPORT® garments incorporate built-in RFID technology, enabling every item of PPE to be uniquely tracked. When paired with our award winning HunterCARE® technology, can provide live track and trace of PPE and creates seamless visibility:

· When a garment is issued

· When it is worn

· When it is sent for laundering

· When it is returned

· Where it is in the care and maintenance process

· How many cycles it has undergone

· When it is due for inspection or retirement

This level of traceability is no longer a “nice to have” — it is essential. Knowing where every piece of PPE is located, is critical to keeping firefighters safe and services operational.

A Shared Message for the Future

Chris and Tim approached the conversation from different backgrounds — but both pointed to the same direction:

· PPE must fit every firefighter correctly.

· PPE must be decontaminated properly and consistently.

· PPE must be maintained with the same seriousness as it is issued.

· When manufacturers and fire services collaborate, expertise meets real-world experience, and the industry moves forward together.

· Cleaner kit, faster turnaround, and gentler processes are not luxury upgrades — they are health protections.

· Technology such as RFID and HunterCARE® are a core part of modern PPE management strategy.

At Hunter, our mission is simple: to protect those who protect us. We live by that mission every day — by being the first in the UK & Ireland to invest in industry-leading decontamination technology, understanding our customers’ challenges, developing meaningful solutions, and supporting seamless integration across their operations.

Will you join us to help improve the long-term health outcomes of our firefighters? Contact: sales@hunterapparelsolutions.com today to get started.

listen to the full conversation episode number 84. : For Every Response – Emergency Services Times