Fire Exposures of SCBA Facepiece Lenses.pdfComment on this page

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Fire Exposures of SCBA Facepiece Lenses.pdf

NIST conducted experiments which demonstrated a range of realistic thermal exposures and environmental conditions that firefighters could be exposed to. SCBA facepieces were exposed to thermal environments during these tests. Eight facepieces were tested in six different experiments, with three facepiece lenses showing evidence of thermal degradation from the exposure. Maximum exterior lens temperatures were as high as 300°C (572°F) in these cases. The environments that caused the failures were identified in an attempt to characterize the thermal performance of SCBA facepieces. Although much was learned about conditions associated with thermal degradation of SCBA facepiece lenses, more experiments are needed to be able to understand the thermal degradation and more definitively predict the conditions that are likely to cause a facepiece lens failure.