NEW YORK, NY — Morning Pride Manufacturing has been selected by the New York City Fire Department to outfit the department’s nearly 3,000 uniformed Emergency Medical Service (EMS) members with new, state-of-the-art Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Morning Pride, selected over two other companies following an extensive field test, will provide a complete PPE package — including advanced, high-tech bunker-style coats, pants, boots, and gloves — that is considered a major upgrade over the gear that EMS workers currently wear.
The new bunker gear reflects what one fire official called a necessity for the expanded role that EMS personnel would play in responses to bio-terrorism, hazmat and other emergency incidents in the city.
Quoted in The Chief-Leader, a New York City-based weekly civil service newspaper, a fire department source called the new Morning Pride gear “light years ahead of anything used by EMS Bureaus in other parts of the country.”
Morning Pride has already begun deliveries of the gear, which made its official debut in the department during July.
The contract award, central to the department’s multi-million-dollar upgrade in protective gear for its EMS personnel, was funded primarily through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced the PPE funding at the city’s EMS Medal Day ceremony, noting that the weather-resistant gear would provide protection against blood-borne pathogens, flash fires, and common chemicals.
Dayton, Ohio-based Morning Pride, whose products are supplied throughout North America by its marketing partner, Total Fire Group, also provides most of the turnout gear used by FDNY’s firefighters.
Morning Pride President and CEO Bill Grilliot, himself an active Captain in a suburban Dayton fire department, explained that the new bunker gear is more “breathable” and provides greater protection than the coats currently worn by EMS personnel, and will help keep body temperatures down during summer’s high heat and at fire scenes.
Total Fire Group also markets American Firewear, Pro Warrington, Servus, Ranger, Fire Warrior, Kore Kooler rehab chairs, and other brands.
Total Fire Group is based in Dayton, OH. Website: www.totalfiregroup.com.