10.b4 Turnout Gear Replacement 2026
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: August, 18th 2026
To: City Council
From: Mike Hinz, Fire Chief
Re: Annual Turnout Gear Replacement
Background:
Firefighting turnout gear is what the fire fighters wear as PPE (Personnel Protective Equipment), this
consists of a helmet, particulate hood, turnout coat, turnout pants, boots and gloves. The turnout coat, pants and
boots are custom fitted to each person. Firefighting turnout gear has a useful life of 10 years per NFPA standard
1971, so back in 2015 the department came up with a plan to bring our gear into compliance with this standard.
To achieve this it was decided that we would purchase 3 set of gear (boots, bunker pants & bunker coat) every
year at a cost of $3,000 per set. This would have meant that after 10 years we would start over to keep all gear
within the 10 year life. During COVID we were not able to purchase these items and have also had multiple
new members’ join that did not fit any of the gear in our inventory. Last year you approved the purchase of 4
sets and we are requesting that again this year. This addition of the 4th set of gear puts us over what the city
administrator is allowed to approve. Currently we are out of date on 8 sets of Coat and pants, 5 helmets and 14
pairs of boots. Prices have increased by 8-15% each year. 2024 price was $3,289 per set which is an 11%
increase. 2025 was $3,647.94 per set, 2026 pricing is $3,9992.48 this is a 9.5% increase
I believe that next year will be the last year that I request 4 sets of gear and we will go back to 3 sets per
year. I have also increased next year’s budget to $18,200.00 in hopes of keeping this line item within budget.
The current pricing is as follows
Boots = $320.00
Turnout Coat & Pant set = $3,672.48
Total cost per set = $3,992.48
Issue:
Should the city council approve the purchase of a 4 sets of replacement turnout gear?
Proposal Details:
Purchase 4 sets of replacement turnout gear (boots, bunker pant & bunker coat) from FES Inc. in the
amount of $15,969.92.
Fiscal Impact:
We did budget $15,000 for uniforms and gear though we only have $13,242.59 remaining in that fund, so we
will have to make adjustments to other line items to compensate for this increased expense of $2,727.33.
Currently we are under estimated on a few other line items.
Options:
(1) Approve purchase of 4 sets of turnout gear
(2) Approve a different number of sets of gear to purchase
(3) Deny the purchase of turnout gear
Recommendation:
Option (1).