Categories
Directory
Northwest Safety Clean's staff is ready any time to answer your questions! We are a wealth of free information!
Staff
Crossed Flags Tracking System - DEMO
One of the things that makes Northwest Safety Clean unique in the Turnout Cleaning and Repair industry is our Asset Tracking System. This system was developed specifically with the end-user in mind - administrators to firefighters.
The following link will take you to our Demonstration pages for Crossed Flags Tracking™ and POSI-TRACK®. Crossed Flags Tracking System/POSI-TRACK Demonstration. You may also see more information about Crossed Flags™ at www.crossedflags.net. In our demo, you'll get an inside peak at POSI-TRACK®, the upgrade area of the Tracking System.
As always, if you have questions and need answers, please contact us!
Did you know.....?
SURVEY SAYS......! As you may know, NWSC has been seeking feedback from its customers through the use of an online survey we created. Here's what some folks had to say....
- -Very Detail Oriented. Thorough Inspections, not just taking care of what the customer reports. Fast Turn-around. Squeaky Clean and Citrus Fresh!! BEST Customer Care. User Friendly. SERVICE WITH A SMILE! d:D
- -You're the BEST and no other company offers the full extent of certified services that you do.
- -You are on time and easy to work with-I had to have a repair done due to an error I made on a set of gear, you gave me a break on the cost. I pass on your cost for services with little or no profit to help out my Fire Departments. It's nice to see you doing the same for me. Not many vendors really believe in TEAM WORK-like NWSC. Feels like old school again and it's nice:) Thanks, Bo Thomas Fireman's Supply Nampa, Idaho
- -Fast friendly service. With your expert knowledge I know the job will be done to NFPA standards.
- -The repair work is top notch. The cleaning of the turnouts always amazes me.
(THIS LETTER went out to all of our customers on 9/30/2009)
Due to the retirement of its owner, Northwest Safety Clean has recently absorbed Solutions Safety Northwest of Seattle Washington. In an effort to ensure that its customers are being taken care of, Solutions Safety business phone lines have been forwarded to our offices. Solutions Safety's owner has graciously supplied us with his current customer list and is encouraging his customers to consider Northwest Safety Clean as their new source for Turnout Repairs and Cleaning....
...We offer UPS WorldShip®, personalized pick-up and delivery options*, quick turnarounds, competitive pricing, and excellent workmanship. We also do custom alterations, fabrication, warranty helmet repairs, and retail sales of NFPA approved turnout cleaning products. AND, Northwest Safety Clean offers a free Online Asset Tracking tool, Crossed Flags Tracking System™**, to all of our customers! You can also become NFPA 1851 trained by us, for FREE!!!***
We understand that changing Service Providers can sometimes be challenging. Northwest Safety Clean would like to assure you that when you decide to do business with us, you are guaranteed the highest quality of service, the most skilled and dedicated repair staff, and top notch customer care! We truly value every one of our customers and it shows!
Please feel free to contact us at any time to obtain more information or to just "pick our brains". We are happy to answer any questions you may have! We look forward to hearing from you! Thank you for your consideration!
Sincerely,
Steve Lakey and Staff
Northwest Safety Clean
(THIS STUDY EXCERPT is provided by Dave Schnell at Winsol Laboratories)"...Turnouts heavily contaminated with hydrocarbons are more likely to conduct electricity, increasing the danger to the fire fighter entering a building or vehicle where electrical wiring may still be live. Hydrocarbons are combustible! While the KEVLAR™, NOMEX™ and PBI™ fibers are not, by themselves, combustible, if they are impregnated with oil, grease and hydrocarbon deposits from soot and smoke, those deposits can and will ignite causing severe burns and injuries to the fire fighter.
WINSOL SOLVES THESE PROBLEMS:
Steps can be taken to reduce the toxins inhaled or carried away with the fire fighter. Obviously, conscientious use of the safety equipment such as air packs and facemasks will provide much of the security for the personal safety of the fire fighter. But much of the toxins that can lead to the cause of cancers and other illnesses are being carried away from the fire scene on the clothing and equipment of the individual.
Decontamination through the methodical cleaning of turnout gear, helmets, boots, gloves, and equipment will substanitally reduce these toxin-bearing soils. Care, of course, must be taken to assure that the cleaning materials used for the maintenance of the garments are compatible with the technologically advanced fabrics currently being used for the manufacture of the turnout gear.
Efforts to decontaminate must be conducted with the life expectancy and construction of the materials used in the manufacture of turnout gear, in mind. Surfactants, emulsifiers, degreasers and cleaners mut be compatible with the fabrics and materials such as nylon, duck, Hypalon™, Gore-Tex™, leather, nitrile rubber, PBI™ Nomex™, Kevlar™, Saranex™, Tyvek™, neoprene, Viton™ and polycarbonates such as Lexan™, and PlexiGlas™. Special care must be taken with both the materials and methods of construction.
WINSOL STUDIES THE REAL PROBLEM OF DECONTAMINATION:
With the years of experience earned developing specialty fabric and filler cleaners for outdoor and backpacking garments and fabric goods, WINSOL adapted to the new fibers used in the construction of turnout gear. We were able to break down the bonding agents which hold the soils and stains to the substrate fabrics, hold those soils in suspension, and release them to rinsing without harming any washable fabric or clogging the membranes of those specialty protector barriers such as GORE-TEX™."
THE QUEST for lighter, stronger and safer sporting goods has made Kevlar® a popular choice for both equipment manufacturers and consumers. The same properties and performance attributes that have proven so effective in industrial and life-protection applications also appeal to athletes, outdoors enthusiasts and anyone else looking for better performance in sports products. *source Dupont.com
THE MOISTURE BARRIER system of your Turnout gear serves a much greater purpose than just keeping you dry - it keeps chemicals and bioagents from passing through your outer shell and onto YOU. This is why ensuring that your liner system is inspected reguarly and kept free from seam leaks, pinholes, weak spots and any other problem that could potentially put your safety at risk is so important. Your liner also helps to remove your own body fluids away from your skin, helping to keep you a little dryer from the inside of the garment. This helps to keep your core body temperature down while you are trying to get the job done.
SPEAKING of core body temperature - you probably already know that when you exert yourself, your body generates heat. Somehow, your body needs to release that heat. If your body can't release that build-up of heat, then you have a problem. A small increase, say 2 to 4 degrees, of your core body temperature, can result in fatigue, exhaustion, nausea, and diminished decision-making capacity. A jump 9-11 degrees above your norm could be fatal. Even after you have stopped exerting yourself, your body temperature can still be rising for 30 minutes, so be aware and stay cool!
Little-known factoids
THE MALTESE CROSS The badge of a Firefighter is the Maltese Cross. The Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection, a badge of honor, and its story is hundreds of years old. When a courageous band of Crusaders, known as The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, fought the Saracens for possession of the Holy Land, they were faced with a new weapon not known to European fighters. It was a simple but horrible device of war. The Saracens weapon was FIRE. As the Crusaders advanced on the wall of the city, they were bombarded with glass bombs containing naphtha. When they were saturated with the liquid, the Saracens threw flaming torches onto the Crusaders. Hundreds of knights were burned alive while others risked their lives in effort to save their kinsmen from painful fiery deaths. Thus these men became the first Firemen, and the first of a long line of Firefighters. Their heroic efforts were recognized by fellow Crusaders, who awarded each other with a badge of honor, similar to the cross that firefighters wear today. Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on the island on Malta, (in the Mediterranean Sea) the cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross. The Maltese Cross is your symbol of protection. It means that the Firefighter that wears it is willing to lay down his life for you, just as the Crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man, so many years ago. The Maltese Cross is a Firefighter’s badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage, a ladder rung away from death. The Maltese Cross came to represent the principle of charity, loyalty, chivalry, generosity to friend or foe, protection of the weak and dexterity in service.
A RECENT study shows that the long held assumption that rubber is better than leather is FALSE!!! A test, based on a FEMA procedure, took a leather sample and a rubber sample, each from newly manufactured boot materials, and subjected them to common hazardous chemicals that a firefighter would expect to have contact with. Then, the materials received a standard decontamination. When the materials were tested, on the surface and within the material itself, the rubber sample retained higher levels of residual chemicals than the leather sample did. *source - reprinted from the Dec. 2008 Fire Engineering; Copyright 2008 Penn Well Corp., courtesy of W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
ANCIENT Rome is said to have had one of the first fire departments, consisting of approximately 7,000 paid firefighters. These fire brigades not only responded to and fought fires, but also patrolled the streets with the authority to impose corporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes.
AMONG the 350,000 paid firefighters in the nation today, the 2000 Census reports that women number slightly more than 11,000, or 3.7%. from www.i-women.org