SWP - Bunker Gear Routine Inspection and Cleaning

Routine inspection is your own check of every element of your ensemble: after every use, at the start of every duty period, and for volunteers at least monthly and after every call. Routine cleaning is the light cleaning you do yourself after use. Both are the first line of the care and maintenance standard’s inspection and cleaning regime (NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 6 and 7), and occupational health and safety law generally requires PPE to be inspected before use and maintained (J13 Firefighter PPE and Protective Equipment). Routine inspection and cleaning never replace advanced inspection or advanced cleaning; they decide whether the gear can go on the rig now and whether it needs more (Protective Clothing and Equipment Program elements 5.5 and 5.7). (S1)

• Wearing gear with hidden thermal damage, a torn moisture barrier, a missing liner, a split wristlet or a worn boot sole into a fire.
• Wearing contaminated gear: occupational exposure as a firefighter is carcinogenic to humans, Group 1 (IARC, 2023), and gear off-gasses while it is worn, carried and stored (FSRI, 2025).
• Dust raised by dry brushing; cleaning products; wet floors in the cleaning area.
• Damage to the gear from the wrong cleaning: chlorine bleach, solvents, hot water, a household machine, direct sunlight.
• The quiet pressure to pass gear that is “probably fine” because there is no loaner that fits.

The Form - PPE Routine Inspection Card. Good light. Nitrile gloves, eye protection. Soft brushes, mild liquid soap, a utility sink or hose with low pressure in the yellow-zone cleaning area, drying rack or hangers out of sunlight. Tags for out-of-service gear. (S1)

You, for your own gear. The company officer for the disposition decision. All members trained at recruit level and the annual refresher with a hands-on inspection; officers trained on the finding categories (Protective Clothing and Equipment Program section 6). (S1)

1. Lay the gear out in good light with the liner still attached. Work through the card in order so nothing is missed.
2. Coat and trousers. Look and feel for: soiling and contamination; rips, tears, cuts and abrasion; damaged or missing hardware and closures; thermal damage (charring, burn holes, melting, discolouration, a stiff or shiny patch); reflective trim damage or loss; open seams; liner attachment points; wristlets; the drag rescue device present and the handle free. Run the zipper and the storm flap. Check the knees and the seat.
3. Helmet. Shell cracks, dents, abrasions, bubbling, soft spots, warping, discolouration; suspension and retention system; chin strap and hardware; faceshield or goggles for damage and scratches that impair vision; ear covers; reflective trim.
4. Hood. Rips, tears, cuts, thinning; thermal damage; stretched or slack face opening; shrinkage; contamination; particulate layer intact where you can see it.
5. Gloves. Rips, tears, cuts; thermal damage; shrinkage or stiffness; liner inverted or detached; seams; wristlet or gauntlet; contamination.
6. Boots. Cuts, tears, punctures; sole separation, wear and lost tread; thermal damage; exposed or deformed toe cap or midsole; heel counter and closure; contamination; liner.
7. Facepiece interface. Don the hood, coat and helmet with your assigned facepiece and have a crew member check for gaps at the collar and the hood edge. The facepiece itself belongs to the Respiratory Protection Program.
8. Record and report. Mark the card. Decision point: any finding goes to the company officer the same day, who assigns a category: A serviceable; B serviceable after cleaning; C repair required; D remove from service pending the {{PPE Coordinator}}’s decision within five working days; E retire (Protective Clothing and Equipment Program element 5.6). Categories C, D and E mean the element is tagged, bagged and off the rig, and you draw your second set or a loaner that fits. You may refuse to wear any element you are not sure of; the officer issues a loaner and logs the concern, and you hear back within five working days through the member’s concern route (Edmondson, 1999)DOI.

9. Go to the yellow-zone cleaning area, never a kitchen, washroom or living area. Put on nitrile gloves and eye protection. If you will dry brush, wear the respirator the department provides.
10. Brush off loose debris with a soft brush, outdoors or at the sink, with the gear held away from your face.
11. Rinse with cool water at low pressure. Spot clean soiled areas with mild liquid soap and a soft brush, with the grain of the fabric. Rinse until the water runs clear. Keep water off the inside of the gear where you can.
12. Hoods, gloves and helmet. Hoods and gloves are hand washed in the utility sink with mild soap, or go straight to advanced cleaning in a mesh bag after a fire exposure; hoods are laundered at no more than 100 G and 40 °C (NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 6). Wipe the helmet shell, suspension and faceshield with mild soap and water. Rinse boots and scrub the soles.
13. Never: a home washing machine; the station machine that launders station wear, bedding or mops; a public laundromat; chlorine bleach; solvents; water hotter than the manufacturer’s maximum; a household dryer on heat; pressure washing. These damage the layers and strip the protection (NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 6).
14. Dry out of sunlight on a rack or hangers in a ventilated space or a drying cabinet set below the manufacturer’s maximum, liner and shell apart where practical. Never store gear wet.
15. Store it right. Clean, dry gear goes in the ventilated gear room or locker in the yellow zone: not in a living, sleeping, kitchen or office area, not in the crew cab, not in a personal vehicle, not in direct sunlight, not beside the diesel exhaust path (Protective Clothing and Equipment Program element 5.13; NFPA 1850, 2026, ch. 9). Volunteers who keep gear at home use the department bag in a garage or unheated space away from living areas.
16. Decision point: is routine cleaning enough? It is not enough, and the element goes to advanced cleaning, when: it was exposed to products of combustion at any fire; it smells of smoke after routine cleaning; soiling remains after spot cleaning; it has not had advanced cleaning inside the department’s interval; or the officer assigned category B (SWP - Bunker Gear Advanced and Specialized Cleaning and Repair). It is never the right method when the contaminant is a hazardous material, body fluids or unknown; isolate and tag that gear for specialized cleaning.

Routine inspection check card (the full card is Form - PPE Routine Inspection Card)

• You find a defect at the scene or on the way to a call: tell the officer immediately; the officer reassigns you away from interior work until you have serviceable gear.
• No loaner fits: you are not assigned to interior work; the gap goes through the member’s concern route the same day and to the {{PPE Coordinator}} by the next business day.
• You are not sure whether a mark is thermal damage: category D, off the rig, and the trained technician decides under SWP - Bunker Gear Advanced Inspection.
• Hazardous material, body fluids or an unknown substance on the gear: do not brush or rinse; isolate, bag, tag, report, and hand over to specialized cleaning.
• Skin or eye contact with a cleaning product: flush and follow the safety data sheet.

The Form - PPE Routine Inspection Card, kept for the current year and sampled by the {{PPE Coordinator}} quarterly. Any finding and the officer’s category and disposition. A routine cleaning entry on the Form - PPE Cleaning and Repair Log when the cleaning followed a fire exposure. Category C, D and E elements go onto the per-garment record in {{Records system}} the same day (SWP - Bunker Gear Retirement and Records). A report of damaged or contaminated gear is information about the system, never a mark against the member (Reason, 1997; Dekker, 2016). (S1)

Recruit training and an annual refresher of at least one hour with a hands-on inspection on the card, signed off by the company officer. Officers refresh on the finding categories annually. The Protective Clothing, Equipment and Decontamination Program Improvement Team reviews this procedure every 12 months, after any Tier 2 or Tier 3 event involving PPE, on any change of garment model or standard edition, and whenever a learning team finds the card being skipped; it is rewritten from how members actually inspect and clean at 0300 after a fire (Hollnagel, 2014; Conklin, 2012). Safety-sensitive changes go to the {{JOHSC}} before adoption. Signed off by the {{PPE Program Manager}}. (S1)

Protective Clothing and Equipment Program · Decontamination and Contamination Control Program · Policy - Personal Protective Equipment and Contamination Control · Respiratory Protection Program · SWP - On-Scene Preliminary Exposure Reduction · SWP - Post-Call Station Decontamination · SWP - Bunker Gear Advanced Inspection · SWP - Bunker Gear Advanced and Specialized Cleaning and Repair · SWP - Bunker Gear Retirement and Records · Form - PPE Routine Inspection Card · Form - PPE Cleaning and Repair Log · Form - PPE Issue and Return Record · Checklist - Protective Clothing and Equipment · Incident Investigation and Learning Program

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.