Sitting at the fire station during a shift, firefighters around the globe wait for the harrowing sound of radio static. The second a call comes through, the energy shifts. What was only moments ago the hustle and bustle of everyday life at the station becomes solemn and still, while a quick stream of instructions makes its way through the receiver. Regardless of whether they’re sitting in Liberty Hill, Texas or Southampton, United Kingdom, these first responders act quickly and methodically, grabbing their gear and moving with militaristic efficiency.
Fighting a structural fire in rural Texas looks drastically different than fighting a structural fire in a mid-sized city in the United Kingdom. An American department would likely use a more aggressive strategy that fights fire from the inside of a structure, requiring additional protective apparel and equipment to successfully extinguish the flames. A European brigade, however, would take a more defensive approach – fighting a fire from the outside, focusing on vacating the building and preserving surrounding infrastructure.
Geography and tactics aside, these two scenarios share a critical component: firefighters who are called to act quickly, respond effectively and make it back to the station safely to prepare for the next call.
Firefighters around the world respond to structural fires and face nearly identical threats, including the flames themselves, carcinogenic smoke, heat stress and fatigue, among many others. Despite these similarities on the job, few manufacturers of protective apparel seem to bring a unified portfolio of gear for firefighters – a gap that Lakeland is looking to bridge.
Lakeland has had a global customer base almost since its inception, with operations expanding rapidly across North America and into Asia, Europe and Latin America. Each of these regions has different mandates and organizations that regulate protective apparel, and Lakeland has employed some of the best minds in textiles to innovate in fabric strength, breathability and garment design.
With the goal of offering a set of fire-protective products from the same manufacturer base, Lakeland has acquired three international brands in the last two years: Eagle Technical Products, based in Manchester, United Kingdom; Pacific Helmets based in Whanganui, New Zealand; and Jolly Scarpe Footwear, based in Montebelluna, Italy.
With the recent acquisitions of Eagle, Pacific and Jolly, Lakeland is now able to leverage an in-house technical team that can design fire gear to an array of global safety standards, along with a more complete solution set of helmets, turnout gear, hoods, gloves and boots.
North America primarily uses National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) certified gear, while Europe is required to follow European Standards (EN) when purchasing gear, which have different performance requirements due to the difference in firefighting strategies. Other regions have specialized standards, or even little regulation around the specifications gear must meet.
Either way, the common denominator is the same: firefighters around the world require high-quality protection to best serve their communities. And with the needs of firefighters becoming even more sophisticated, having a trusted vendor who understands fire protection from head to toe is a critical consideration.
By providing a comprehensive set of products, innovative design resources and in-house manufacturing, Lakeland aims to best protect those who best protect us.
About Lakeland
Lakeland Industries entered the protective apparel space in 1982, making its debut by specializing in chemical suits and disposable coveralls. It didn’t take long to look to the fire service market, as it provided a unique customer base that responds to a variety of critical hazards where innovation in the PPE space was previously limited. Lakeland has since shaped a vision for firefighter protection that extends far beyond its original acquisition of Fyrepel in 1986. Over the last three years, Lakeland has made larger strides, including three acquisitions, with the goal of bringing cutting-edge designs and a head-to-toe product portfolio to firefighters around the world.
