Emergency! helmets

[Jonnee]

Ah, so there's the Topgard and Topguard. Wow, that's stupidly confusing on MSA's part. No wonder I got mixed up. Sorry about that!


Are you saying that the Topguard firefighting helmet is still a current model that MSA produces now? Do you know where someone can get them? Because I looked (not real hard, to be honest, after I came to believe that it was not a current product) and couldn't find them. I might like to get one if they're still making new ones.

Nothing stupid. Two different types of safety helmets, one spelled one way and the other another. The Topguard fire helmet is not in production. That is probably why MSA dropped the "U" and call the safety helmet what they are calling it now.

As far as the MSA Topguard fire helmets, they may have been a large supply sitting in a warehouse somewhere that cities, towns, burgs and other places are buying for their members as they are probably cheap in cost and they serve well. Might be here CanadianFyrTrks is, there isn't any regulation or their town don't really care if there is one.

You can probably buy a used one on ebay if you want one.

[CanadianFyrTrks]

Are you saying that the Topguard firefighting helmet is still a current model that MSA produces now? Do you know where someone can get them? Because I looked (not real hard, to be honest, after I came to believe that it was not a current product) and couldn't find them. I might like to get one if they're still making new ones.

Nope, I use one in the petroleum industry. It's the new Topguard

[Jonnee]

Nope, I use one in the petroleum industry. It's the new Topguard

What you are wearing is an industrial type helmet. Its not a fire helmet as JJR512 seems to think.

The MSA Topgard is the proper name of that helmet.

It comes in various colors. This is what the helmet looks like.

[NobodyAnymore]

What you are wearing is an industrial type helmet. Its not a fire helmet as JJR512 seems to think.

The MSA Topgard is the proper name of that helmet.

It comes in various colors. This is what the helmet looks like.

Thought, as in the past-tense version of think. You cleared up my confusion about that a few posts back, and I thought I had expressed that I now understood it.

I was asking about CanadianFyrTrks's firefighting helmet because he wrote "Topguard" not "Topgard", which further illustrates that I am no longer confused about the two different models and their names, and also reinforces my earlier opinion that these two different helmets being given almost the same name is "stupidly confusing". I mean here's a guy that owns one kind of helmet but he's calling it by the other kind's name, that's how easy it is to get them mixed up. But that's just my opinion.

[NobodyAnymore]

I sent an inquiry directly to MSA. This was my question:

I have a question about the history of an MSA product. It is my understanding through online research that back in the 1960s-70s, MSA produced a fire helmet under the Topguard or Topgard name. I understand that currently, MSA produces a safety (non-FF) helmet under the Topgard name. Is the name of the older fire helmet correctly spelled Topguard or Topgard? If it is Topgard, why was the design changed from a fire helmet to a safety helmet? On the other hand, if the old fire helmet is correctly spelled Topguard, was there also a Topgard safety helmet in production at the same time? When was the Topgard safety helmet first introduced?

This was their response:

At some point in the mid-1980s, NFPA-1971 changed significantly enough that we could no longer offer the Topgard as a structural firefighting helmet. We've continued to market its cap & hat versions, though, as our industrial Topgard helmet. Regardless of the model, each version was part of the Topgard "family." This model was launched in the 1960s.

[PaladinKnight]

Nothing like going to the horse to get in the saddle. Well done sir.

[Jonnee]

I sent an inquiry directly to MSA. This was my question:


This was their response:

Very good. About what has been said by the posters.

[Rescue101]

We had both the Msa and the Bullard "Hard boil" helmets here when I started. You couldn't KILL the Bullards but you Could stave up the guy under them. When we got rid of them back in the 80's we tried to kill one with a sledge. Nope,works just like the Turtle shell in Mario bros, you'll get hurt but the helmet won't! hehe T.C.

[LaFireEducator]

My first helmet was that style.

Brings back memories.

[ffp20]

We had both the Msa and the Bullard "Hard boil" helmets here when I started. You couldn't KILL the Bullards but you Could stave up the guy under them. When we got rid of them back in the 80's we tried to kill one with a sledge. Nope,works just like the Turtle shell in Mario bros, you'll get hurt but the helmet won't! hehe T.C.

The liners in the bullard hard boil helmets were killers. The metal brackets that held them in would dig into your scalp and hurt like hell after a while.