Reno City Council to buy ‘new generation’ fire shelters

14 February 2008

USA — The Reno City Council agreed Wednesday to spend $32,739 to buy about 100 “new generation” wildland fire shelters that firefighters deploy when flames are about to burn over their location.

The purchase will be made over three years from the federal General Services Agency.

Fire shelters have saved the lives of more than 300 firefighters and prevented hundreds of serious injuries nationwide since they became a required safety item for firefighters in 1977, the city said in a news release. In June 2002, the dome-shaped fire shelter design was approved, replacing the pup-tent design.

The new shelter is larger and heavier than the old design and uses a slightly different technology to protect firefighters who might become entrapped in a fast moving wildland fire. Firefighters lay on the ground to protect the underside of their bodies when they deploy the shelters.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin