Rethinking Personal Protection Equipment for Women in Fire Service

Female firefighters are facing a major issue with ill-fitting gear. Steps must be taken to ensure they receive the same level of protection as their male counterparts.

• By Amanda Newsom
• Jun 11, 2025

In 1818, Molly Williams of Baltimore became the first documented female firefighter in the United States. Since then, the number of women serving as firefighters in the U.S. has grown steadily; today, roughly nine percent of the fire service — about 17,200 in paid roles and 72,400 volunteers — is made up of women. They receive the same training, work the same hours and fight the same fires as men. However, as more women step into this demanding role, they are hampered by a stubborn challenge: ill-fitting personal protective equipment, or PPE.

Originally designed for men, today’s PPE often fails to properly fit female firefighters. According to a survey conducted by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nearly 80 percent of women in the fire service said their gear doesn’t fit correctly. This is more than a matter of comfort; it’s a matter of safety. Due to standards that might not effectively address their needs, limited research and budget constraints, women firefighters are too often wearing ill-fitting PPE.

A lot has changed since the early days of firefighting, but women’s PPE sizing is still based on assumptions, and that creates a significant challenge for women in fire service.  

Why Fit Matters

Properly fitting PPE — coats, trousers, footwear, gloves, helmets and so on — is critical to firefighter safety. These components are specifically designed and tested to shield firefighters from extreme thermal and physical exposures, as well as other hazards.

Wildland and structural are the two primary categories of firefighting. Wildland firefighters respond to and suppress wildfires in natural and urban areas, whereas structural firefighters handle a wide range of complex rescues, including structure fires, vehicle incidents and other emergencies. Wildland PPE needs to be extremely durable to withstand high heat exposure for long periods. Structural PPE needs to provide protection from heat and direct flame exposure, physical hazards and other potential incidents of liquid chemical or biological contact. Both need to fit correctly to be effective and protective.

PPE that fits well provides a barrier between the body and the outside environment and is designed so that the best insulator — air — is used as much as possible. If the PPE is too tight, that air gap disappears. Too loose, and the gear can snag, shift, or fail to shield vulnerable areas of the body.

When coats and trousers are too large, as they often are, they rub and chafe, often leaving behind rashes or blisters. Wildland firefighters who wear the same gear for 24 hours in extreme conditions are especially susceptible to discomfort and injury.

When the only option is wearing PPE that’s too big, women often resort to DIY methods, such as pinning their gear or hand-altering it. Others opt to ditch certified options in favor of something more functional. Neither option is safe, and neither should be necessary.

Restriction of Current Standards and Limited Research

So why hasn’t women’s PPE evolved? One answer lies in the standards that have historically informed its design.

NFPA 1970 and NFPA 1950 govern the use of PPE for firefighters, and they represent a consolidation of several previous standards. The challenge is that the original sizing charts for women’s PPE were based on data from the military. These charts assumed that women firefighters had builds similar to women in the military. While useful in certain contexts, these measurements don’t necessarily reflect the physical diversity of today’s fire service.

In fact, in the most recent revision of one wildland firefighting standard, the sizing chart for women was so challenging that an effort was made to eliminate it entirely. However, this change would not have fixed the issue and was ultimately abandoned. Until we have firefighter-specific data and reframe what “standard” sizing looks like, women will continue to be at a disadvantage when it comes to the gear they rely on the most.

Overcoming Barriers to Access and Budget Constraints

Even when well-fitting gear is available, access remains a challenge. A single set of structural firefighting PPE can cost between $4,500 to $5,000. Custom-fit or gender-specific options often come with higher price tags, making them cost-prohibitive for many local departments. These firehouses default to stocking standard men’s gear, which leaves firehouse women with men’s PPE, or whatever gear they manage to source for themselves.

Developing practical solutions to keep females in the fire service safe will take a broad effort across many sectors and organizations, which is why the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe published in 2016 the Declaration for Gender Responsive Standards. Since then, many standards-development organizations have pledged their engagement to develop inclusive standards by becoming signatories. The declaration aims to:

• Strengthen the use of standards and technical regulations to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Integrate a gender lens in the development of both standards and technical regulations
• Establish gender indicators and criteria that could be used in standards development

This U.N. initiative brings together representatives from standardization bodies, gender inequality experts, policymakers and others to exchange information and best practices about successful approaches to gender-responsive standards development and implementation. A broad effort to include more women in the decision-making process can help better inform PPE for female first responders and make strides towards inclusive sizing.

This diverse working group helps promote economic growth and ensure safe and secure working environments for all workers. By providing a practical, accessible framework, the UNECE Gender Responsive Standards Initiative is encouraging more women to have a seat at the table and breaking down barriers of accessibility due to underrepresentation of women in standards.

A Call for Change

So far, over 85 countries, states and international and regional organizations – including UL Standards & Engagement, UL Solutions' majority stockholder — have signed the Declaration and pledged to make standards and the standards development process more gender responsive.

Addressing this complex but important issue will take a coordinated effort across the fire service ecosystem, from the designers of gear to those writing the standards to the people making purchasing decisions. Here’s how these key groups can work together to close the gap and ensure PPE protects all firefighters:

• Manufacturers have an opportunity to partner with researchers and female firefighters to design gear that performs as well for women as it does for men. This means moving beyond downsized versions of men’s PPE and developing gear specifically for female body types that meets certification requirements without compromise.

• Standards committees should remain open to evolving. Over the last several years, improvement to PPE sizing has been a top conversation, but there is still a need for effective action to drive to enhanced PPE for female firefighters. This includes listening to subject matter experts, considering updated research, and welcoming diverse voices to the conversation.

• Department leaders play a crucial role in shaping procurement practices. When evaluating PPE options, it’s essential to include female firefighters in the decision-making process. This includes participation in wear trials and fit testing not just to ensure the gear works, but also to gather real-world feedback on how it performs in active duty.

• Researchers should continue driving this conversation forward by collecting new anthropometric data specific to women in the fire service. A comprehensive female firefighter database could give both manufacturers and standards organizations the tools they need to design gear that fits correctly and functions properly. Florida State University put together a presentation providing step-by-step instructions on how U.S. female firefighters can participate in their research nationally.

Researchers can also support standards development by sharing insights, educating stakeholders, and actively participating in revision processes so committee members can make better informed decisions.

There will be a need for 25,700 new firefighters each year in the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and history suggests more and more of those recruits will be women. Initiatives such as the UNECE Gender Responsive Standards are helping to increase representation of women across industries like fire service. Greater involvement can lead to the formation of a gender responsive PPE task force that would ensure that women in fire service have the same access to safe and comfortable PPE.

Women’s PPE should be designed the same way as men’s — with distinct sizing that reflects human anatomy and performance needs. This will require investing in new data, designing with intention and creating more avenues for women’s voices to shape the standards that define safety. When safety is the goal, PPE must fit everyone who wears it.