As another wildfire season approaches, the KING 5 Investigators found there’s a piece of equipment that has saved the lives of approximately two dozen firefighters and has worked every time it’s been used, yet not many wildland firefighters in the state of Washington have it. The product is fire barrier curtains. They’re made of multiple layers of aluminum that roll up and are installed inside the cabs of bulldozers, excavators, brush trucks and other rigs used in wildland firefighting. In the worst-case scenario on the front lines – getting trapped by flames with no way out – the curtains are deployed and fastened with Velcro around the windows. They can withstand temperatures of up to 2800 degrees – the temperature of the hottest wildfires. “They saved my life. I’m 100 percent sure,” said veteran firefighter Don Andrews from Redding, California. In 2018 he was working inside his dozer on what’s known as the Carr Fire in Northern California. He said it seemed like a run-of-the-mill day at work. “It seemed like another day in the office,” Andrews said. “I’ve done it for 30 years, and I never saw it coming.” Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/piece-of-wildfire-safety-gear-not-mandatory-in-washington-state/281-bb7df7d8-745a-4b33-a7a5-1104976e51c6