Fire Fighter boots

[jloonz]

My nephew had a question recently about adequate protection of the boots that firefighters wear
He recently saw some firefighters at a station walking around in shorts and flip-flops
A call came in and he saw him just jump into their boots. Pull their pants up and takeoff.
So the question is, are the boots rated so they can adequately protect a firefighters bare feet during a structure fire?
And why don’t they put some sort protective socks on their feet, the same as they were a protected hood on their head before they put their helmet on?

 

[JohnnyGage]

Boots are very well insulated, I've worn them with and without socks, never a problem.

 

[RCL]

I can't speak for others but I've done that same thing on more then 1 occasion. Usually at night or when I was working out. id be wearing a dept tshirt and dept shorts with socks. The boots we use are NFPA rated which means they adhere to specific protection standards. Steel or composite toe/shanks waterproof, insulated for certain lengths of time etc.

Going back to the flip flops. Most departments have sogs on what they can and can't wear. My dept pretty specifically said steel toe boots with some exceptions like working out. Reason being is that A, the boots give stability to your ankles, at least ours did, and also protect your feet from falling objects like nozzles and tools or accidentally stepping on or kicking something, when your checking equipment. What can and has happened in a few cases I know of, is that members got hurt not wearing the proper gear and workers comp either partial paid or denied the claim outright. I can't and won't speak for that dept, even though I've seen more then a few similar videos. Shorts and t shirts no problem. We were hoping our dept came up with a revised sog on that. We routinely see heat indexes of over 100. Not protecting your feet is a different story.