Today, October 9th, marks National Fire Prevention Day. This day, in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week, is a platform for fire officials to educate the public about the importance of fire safety.
While firefighters and fire officials are providing us with this very important PSA, I’d like to take this opportunity to return the favor.
Last month, I received an email from Hector, who recently became a big fan of Klein Tools. Hector is a certified structural firefighter and he wrote to tell us about how much our new Hi-Visibility Tools have helped him on the job. But something he wrote in particular caught my attention:
"I recommend the glow in the dark tools to my fellow firefighters because it enhances life safety," he wrote.
Statistics show nearly 25% of all line of duty deaths occur when firefighters become tangled in wiring or cables and run out of oxygen. Hector told me that’s why he carries a lineman’s pliers in one pocket of his protection pants and a diagonal cutter in the other pocket. He says firefighters run into entanglement risks every day on the job and having a durable, reliable tool to free themselves is literally a life saver.
It was during a recent trip to The Home Depot that Hector discovered the Klein Tools Hi-Visibility Tools. Hector says he was drawn to the wide jaw openings and the cutting knives strong enough to cut screws and hardened wire. He says the tool’s 9” length is the perfect size to fit in a pocket and provides enough leverage to cut through most wiring.
But what really drew him to these tools, what convinced him to give up the tools he already had, were the glow-in-the-dark handles. Hector says structure fires have debris everywhere and it is always dark, even in daylight. The Hi-Viz handles, Hector says, “are easier to locate and help other firefighters or rescuers to locate you if [you] suddenly become trapped.”
It’s a good thing the glow on our Hi-Viz handles can last up to 30 minutes! They can also be recharged in pretty much any type of lighting. We offer Hi-Viz handles on our most popular Wire Strippers, Long-Nose Pliers, Diagonal-Cutting Pliers, Angled Head Diagonal Cutters, and of course Side-Cutting Pliers.
This is the second story we’ve heard about how the Hi-Visibility Tools are being used as rescue tools. For those of you who are divers, you’ll want to check this out. But we did actually make these tools for the professional electrician. In this episode of Tradesman TV, Barnaby learns why a trades person might want to carry these in their tool pouch:
An interesting side note... National Fire Prevention Day was established in part to commemorate the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. The Great Chicago Fire, if you don’t already know, destroyed most of Chicago’s business district back in 1871. It is rumored to have been started by a cow knocking over a lantern on a nearby farm. That farm was located just a couple of blocks away from Klein Tools’ manufacturing facility at the time. The plant was one of more than 17,000 structures destroyed in the massive blaze. Fortunately, we were able to rebuild quickly and get back to making some of the highest-quality tools in the industry.