Volunteer Responder Equipment

NET Hard Hats and Hard Hat Accessories

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Respiratory Protection for NETs

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/us/wildfire-firefighters-masks-smoke.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fE8.fIRj.LaKtK8TmhSIA&smid=em-share

Hand Protection for NETs

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Individual First Aid Kits (IFAKs)

Team Supply Kits - Team Kit Considerations - Cache Placement and Design - Contents Recommendations - Team Neighborhood Maps

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Respiratory Protection

Illustration by Hugh Newell.

Respiratory protection for NET volunteers gets complicated and weird because there are at least three different scenarios a NET might need a mask for respiratory protection: protection from communicable disease, protection from wildfire smoke, and protection from a hazardous materials release. There is no single mask that can protect against all of those threats, but an N95 comes close. Therefore, the guidance from PBEM is:

• Every NET should carry at least quantity two N95 masks in their deployment kit.
• N95s have a shelf life, and NETs should note when the masks in their kit expire.

Respiratory protection is a "must have" and among the most important items in a NET kit.

N95 Respirators

Disposable N95 masks are designed to filter out ≥95% of airborne particles ≥0.3 microns in size. This makes them effective against:

• Fungal spores: most are much larger than 0.3 microns and often 1–30 microns across;
• Pollen: most pollen grains are 10–100 microns in diameter;
• Wildfire smoke: though wildfire smoke is a complex mix of gases and particles, the most significant threat comes from "fine particulate matter" which is particles ≤2.5 microns across;

Why are N95s effective against viruses and bacteria?

In fact, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, N95s were not recommended as an effective barrier against viruses and bacteria. What changed? Wired has printed an interesting article about the reasons guidance changed and how new science during COVID prompted those changes. But