Fire Gloves Buying Guide

Need to find the perfect gift for the firefighter in your life or to replace your own gloves? Do you have some other need for fire gloves? Firefighters are not the only ones whose hands need protection from flames. Blacksmiths, glass blowers, and those who work on hot, open flame grills throughout the day can benefit from a great set of gloves. No matter the need, a fire glove must properly fit the male workers' hands to provide ease of movement for excellent manual dexterity and have high overall durability to stand up to the rough work that they are put through.

Getting the Best Fit
Gloves that are the most comfortable tend to be those that fit the natural contours of the human hand. Often this feature is referred to as curvature-fitting, meaning the gloves have less "breaking in" time needed. Some gloves have extra pieces built into the back of the hand so the knuckles can stretch more. Designers are also eliminating the seams between the fingers and at the fingertips to reduce bulkiness. Such improvements to the fit of the gloves make it easier to manipulate small objects, such as radio dialers or tools and to put them on or off quickly. It is important that the gloves have a little bit of breathing room when they are fresh out of the box. If the gloves fit too snuggly, then there is not enough space for air to be trapped when the glove is put on. The trapped air adds a layer of protective insulation so a too-snug glove offers less of the critical thermal protection needed.

Glove Care and Maintenance
Once you have found the perfect pair of fire gloves, you want to keep them in the best condition possible so that they last to keep providing top quality protection. Some gloves have specific care instructions from the manufacturer to prolong the life cycle of the gloves, but there are general guidelines that are appropriate to follow for all kinds of fire gloves.

If gloves come into contact with toxic, corrosive chemicals, or certain petroleum products, you should keep them separate from your other gear until you can inspect them. Depending on what they came into contact with, you may be able to decontaminate them or may have to dispose of them all together.
Avoid harsh cleaning agents, such as bleach as such products can degrade the gloves' fibers.
Before washing your gloves, use a brush with plastic bristles to scrape as much surface debris as possible.
To wash the gloves, scrub the outside with a plastic brush and mild soap, such assaddle soap. Saddle soap is a leather cleaning soap that preserves the natural oils in the leather needed to keep it supple.
To prevent shrinkage, allow the gloves to air dry or use a low-temperature dryer.
Brands of Fire Gloves
There are several manufacturers of fire gloves, each offering slightly different materials for thermal protection.

Dragon Fire Gloves
Dragon Fire offers Alpha-X and Alpha-X Texan gloves. Both gloves are made of cow and swine hide, have wear and grip pads on the fingertips and thumbs, and an ergonomic design. To provide the ideal fit, the wrists have a Velcro glove strap so you can snuggly fit it to your wrist. The liner is made of kovenex, which is a thermal liner of high-performance fibers. Both styles have melting points above industry requirements for firefighting gloves. The Alpha-X glove comes in two styles, the gauntlet wrist or the wristlet. The wristlet has a nomex thermal cuff that extends slightly outside of the end of the glove. The Alpha-X Texan glove comes in Texan style, meaning there is a black with yellow reflective stripe extension that comes part way up the forearm and secured down with a buckle for optimal fitting.

Fire Hooks' ESKA Gloves
With their Kevlar and silver blended liners, ESKA gloves offer heat protection that is also anti-fungal, anti-static, and anti-odor. Rather than being made of leather like the Dragon Fire gloves, they are made of an aramid material known as Kermel. Kermel is fire resistant, does not retain water like leather, and machine washable. The knuckles and palm are reinforced with a coating of Kevlar for additional heat resistance.

Fire-Dex Gloves
Fire-Dex offers six different gloves that meet the industry NFPA standards and are made up of various leathers. The FDX G1 uses full-grain leathers and has a Kovenex-R thermal liner. The Courage Glove is a goat-leather glove with elk hide back, making it naturally water repellant. Also with an elk hide back, the Honor Glove is a cow hide glove that comes with one of two different moisture barriers. Providing Kevlar thread stitches for durability, the Blue Cow Glove, Grey Cow Glove, and Gold Elk Gloves have two wrist fit options, the nomex knit wrist or the gauntlet styled cuff.

Shelby Specialty Gloves
Shelby Specialty Gloves come in a range of styles each with pigskin, elk hide, or cow hide for the shell and feature the Gore RT7100 glove barrier fabric for a vapor barrier.