Fire Protective Clothing with a Personal Touch

In 1975, Carol Neal took the leap to open her own business. It began as a tool to educate people about fire safety and introduce them to the various types of smoke detectors. Part of the program included inviting the local fire departments to demonstrate fire safety at those meetings - showing how to use fire extinguishers and have escape plans...

Soon after, Carol had the opportunity to design and promote a new line of bunker gear - that she was instrumental in addressing the concerns of firefighters - at that time, the lack of knee pads, pockets too small, and the placement of corduroy collars on coats. She addressed those concerns and even made the move to include shoulder padding for cushioning the airpack straps' impact on the shoulders.

The ideas were revoluntionary in the early 1980's and soon, the other manufacturers had to add the types of features that Carol had introduced and insisted were necessary.