"These synthetics provide flash protection, in that they will not melt to the skin"

Pete - thanks for the helpful clarification.
Those particular words were sobering :-)

Les - I do have biker gear. Fire might destroy the gear, but I wonder how fast? Seems like that if you had a thick jacket & pants, plus Nomex gloves (with insulation) and some reasonable face protection, the rescue I'm describing might be possible. Of course - it's easy to say all this when sitting in front of a computer. But it's probably a whole different story at the accident scene.

Pete2

Pete2.. it's been so hot down here, I don't even wear my open weave Joe Rocket jacket, much less the HD jacket I got when I bought the Sportster...it's like riding in a turbo oven... the full face Shoei saved me when I decided to jump off the DL1000 and lead with my head (pneumothorax is now on my resume)... my FJR is a rocketship!

I read about that car accident the other day. Tragic. However, these products, like the Draeger or Safe Escape, are smoke hoods, and not intended to withstand direct flames for any length of time. There's also a good chance that if the surrounding air is hot enough to burn you severely, the air from the filter may also be hot enough to burn your lungs. The filters on these smoke hoods do not have any capacity to significantly cool incoming air.

This is probably something that may freak out someone who actually has to use a smoke hood in a fire. They may think that putting on a hood should somehow provide cool, clean air to breathe but it turns out to be hot, too. ParamedicPete mentioned staying out of oxygen deprived areas because they don't carry any oxygen on board. You also need to stay out of areas that are too hot when using these smoke hoods.

For the scenario you described, a big extinguisher might be more useful in buying some precious seconds to extricate a trapped child rather than going into the flames with just a flame-resistant hood on, to say the least of the rest of your unprotected body, like your hands/arms.

Arney - good suggestion. Thanks for the reminder on inhaling hot air - I need to keep that in mind. I'll look into reasonable prices for larger fire extinguishers.

BTW, I really need to brush up my knowledge of basic firefighting. I looked at the larger extinguishers for sale on the Internet (e.g. 4-pound fire extinguisher). They apparently spray monoammonium phosphate on a fire. Is this effective for fires that ignite from spilled gasoline? What are the pro's and con's?

cheers,
Pete2

When I came on the job,we fought fires without hoods or bunker gear, and somehow we survived and the fires went out.The gear IS good, also heavier,harder to move, and hotter. It keeps the heat in so we over heat,but over all it does protect well.

What do I keep in my cars gear wise ? Nothing. Ok I got some old gloves. A 5 pound ABC ext. to put a small fire out but thats about it .

The ones I looked at are rated for B - flammable liquids, also for solids (A) and electrical (C). That is generally the kind of extinguisher to obtain.