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Improve fire fighter protection on the job with the 2007 NFPA 1971!

The new title for the 2007 edition of NFPA 1971 reflects the fact that the Standard now incorporates requirements for proximity fire fighting protective ensembles (previously in NFPA 1976) in addition to structural fire fighting protective ensembles. The labeling, design, performance, and testing chapters carry the respective requirements for both types of ensembles.

Because fire fighters daily wear their fire fighting protective ensembles ("turnouts") on most emergency calls and to offer departments the opportunity to provide additional limited protection to fire fighters that encounter unexpected CBRN terrorism incidents, the 2007 edition also contains new optional provisions for CBRN (Chemicals, Biological agents, and Radiological particulates) protection. These new optional requirements must be specified by the purchaser in bid solicitation and purchase specifications in order to obtain the CBRN terrorism incident protection in the certified ensemble. The optional CBRN protection applies to both proximity fire fighting ensembles and to structural fire fighting ensembles.

These new optional CBRN criteria:

• Apply only to entire ensembles, and not to the individual elements
• Are integrated into the overall construction of the respective ensemble without having to "add or subtract" anything
• Do not reduce or compromise any features of the ensembles' fire fighting capabilities

The 2007 Standard also contains editorial revisions that improve usability and make NFPA 1971 consistent in format with other NFPA documents.