Station T-shirts

[truckman_sta4]

Hey there are about 60 firefighters here enduring some terrific heat. Thanks to our administration they don't think we look good in just "T-shirts". So their solution is to get rid of the shirts that we feel are cooler for the temperatures and a lot easier to work in.

Here is were we need your help. Does anyone know of any research, articles or anything that shows the effects duty wear and extreme temperatures? If you don't know of any show your opinion so we can show those narrow minded chiefs that we aren't the only ones.

Thanks brothers and sisters!

[BillyMott]

In most cases the reason the T's don't look good is because they purchased exactly that, T shirts or what some of us older guys used to call under shirts, with a Dept.logo on them. If you spend a little more for the better quality it makes a big diff. But hey the original idea was they are cheaper to replace than Uniform button downs. So you can't expect them to pay the same amount for a T. In our dept. in good ole Hot, Humid, Sunny Fla. we can wear T's around the station or at drills or to Fire scenes only. We must wear our additional Button Down uniform shirt to Medical calls or when going out in public. We also get the cheapest low bid style T available and only get 3 replacements a year, so you can imagine what some of them look like since they are intended to be worn as a work shirt and not a uniform shirt. By the way if you look at an older thread on 3/4 length boots vs bunker pants, you will see that it seems we cant agree on which is safer or cooler there either. Lots of luck.

[sloepoke1]

Sorry I don't have no hard facts for you. But the largest uniformed organization, I think that's right, the US Military has several different dress codes for the weather. In other words when the temps get hot the soldiers are working in t-shirts. For more info on them just go to the nearest recruiting office and ask. Or ask a Doctor about getting some info on heat related injuries due to wearing to heavy of clothing.

[911WACKER]

One of the ambulance services I work for has the "rule of 80's", above 80% humidity or 80 degrees we can wear our station t-shirts, below that its regular dutie wear. The administrators realized that heat may effect ability to perform and also appearence, and smell.

hope this helps, GOOD LUCK!!!!

[truckman_sta4]

Thanks for your replys. To give you further information we wear good quality T-shirts, FlyingCross dress shirt w/brass, and slacks or EMS pants. Even when you are in T-shirts you still look good. Oh and not to mention that we are constantly being confused with our Police Dept.!

Please help us out. Any info or opinion is welcomed. Thanks

And by the way before the "new" administration we wore polo type shirts that were embroidered and pleated dress shorts and black cross trainers.

[ADSNWFLD]

Good Luck with the fight.

[gunnyv]

We used to wear t-shirts. Our uniform was the Flying Cross shirt w/badge, but we had all kinds of exceptions to the rule. After or before business hours (0800-1630), above 80 deg heat index, weekends, holidays, etc you could wear a t-shirt. Below 25 deg windchill you could wear a sweatshirt, or if any of the t-shirt rules applied. It got so the only guys following the rules were at HQ.
So, last contract we changed the uniform. T-shirts/sweatshirts are during exercise time only. We now have embroidered polo and jobshirts (the ones w/denim collars) Now everyone looks the same. We kept the Flying Cross shirts for PR functions.
Here's the problem: the shirts are $28 ea. Everytime a guy checks the oil or washes hose, etc.. he tries to get away with removing the shirt, and the Chiefs have a fit.

[E_man9RFD]

I wish you luck with this one. My department has the same problem. It gets hotter than hell here. I can see the admins. point of PR and all of that crap, however, a decent looking t-shirt looks good on a firefighter. (We don't even get to wear job shirts) We have to wear the buton down when ever we are out of the house. As you can tell I'm not much one for button downs and badges... they are uncomfortable as hell under the bunker gear. (bitch, bitch, bitch.. I know)

What kills me is our t-shirts are blue. Some of the officers wear them under their white uniform shirts Kinda like wearing a black dickey under a white sweater. (Like in Christmas vacation)

[truckman_sta4]

Let's move this back on top of the posts and get some more replies. Remember to give us your opinion too.

[Tanker06]

Truckman,
Our dept has a bit of leeway (thankfully!) compared to some of the other readers. For official functions, we have the white or lt. blue Flying Cross shirts w/ badges, brass, etc.
For duty crew, we have either the button down (collar with two button) shirts with our name and rank (this during the summer) or a jobshirt (same info) for when it gets colder. When the temp gets up (and we're in VA, so it does) we can wear the dept. T-shirt. Also, the probies wear the T-shirt as their duty crew shirt until their off probation.
I personally think that as long as you're not all dirty/nasty, as long as the shirt is serviceable, we look good.
Gunny, I'm glad our officers give us more slack. They don't mind us taking off our good shirt to do maintenance work. Bummer deal.
For shoes, any black sneaker/cross trainer is acceptable, unless you want to wear your Pro-boots.
Hope this helps!

[N2DFire]

For the sake of a short reply I won;t list the various uniforms that my Squad & FD issue. I'll just say that we have everything from Full Dress (including the high polish shoe) to T-Shirts & Uniform (work) pants.

My personal opinion is that for standard Day to Day operations - then a T-shirt, Uniform Pants, and Station Boots are perfectly fine. If you were doing a lot of "High Profile" PR type work (Public Education, Fire Inspection, etc) than I'd say slip on the ole Flying Cross and bear it for the day (or at least the duration of the event).

Cold weather - add in a nice Sweat Shirt w/ a Collar (Job Shirt) and you're still good to go.

As an option - try pressing for the Polo Shirts back. They are a "notch up" dress wise over a T-shirt but (to me anyway) not that much heavier/hotter/harder to work in than a T-shirt (esp. if you buy the lighter weight fabric ones).

I wish you the best of luck (and a speedy summer).

Take Care - Stay Safe
Stephen
FF/Paramedic

[FHandz17]

I worked for a dept. that made us buy our t-shirts after the first 2-3 they issued you when you started, but they would replace our dress shirts when needed due to wear or damage.

So guess which shirts we made sure we wore to do truck maintenance or wash hose...........the dress shirt. $$$ makes alot of sense, oh well.

[firecat1524]

Our dept issues tshirts and polo shirts on a bi-yearly basis, and that is our day to day uniform along with a basic pair of uniform slacks. The dress uniform is a flying cross shirt and matching pants.....they look sharp but are hot as Hades in SC.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

We can wear T-shirts when we are on duty, doing drills and training. The color of the shirt is dark blue with the FD logo on them. There are two types...the embroidered and the silk screened. The daughter of a retired MFD jake owns her own silk screen/embroidery business, and she provides the shirts and job shirts for most of the area's fire departments.

The uniform shirt with badge has to be worn when doing inspection details. Most of the time, the firefighters opt for the standard uniform shirt for day tours, so the shirt controversy is a moot point. When you have your turnout gear on, who's looking for the type of shirt you are wearing?

In my Department, Firefighters and Lieutenants wear dark blue uniform shirts, Captains and the Chief Officers wear white. Uniform pants are dark blue. Captains can wear the blue shirts during night tours.

We get $675 a year for our uniform clothing allowance, which can be used for purchasing t-shirts, uniforms and other FD related items approved by the Chief. All we have to do is get approval, bring in the reciepts for reimbursement or have the vendor bill the purchase to the Department.

[ 07-13-2001: Message edited by: Captain Gonzo ]

[truckman_sta4]

still need help......anyone else?