Got a Real World Weapons or Armour Question? Mk XII

[Brother Oni]

Modern Firefighting equipment does a decent job, and isn't much heavier. The original Fire helmets (that most departments in New England still use- Centuries of tradition unimpeded by progress) are LEATHER.

Except that leather caps aren't much use in combat, which the original scenario was about.

Now, breathing the hot gas from the dragon's breathe will probably kill you long before the fat renders out of your skin. That's the real danger of fantasy fire attacks. Not a toasty breastplate.

Well dragon breath attacks are far more like a flamethrower, which kinda breaks the thermal energy transfer numbers I crunched which are intended for a split second duration spell.
You're also far more likely to die before you get to the 40.4kJ energy required to achieve a fourth degree burns to ~18% of the body (first degree burns to the same area only needs about 3.6kJ if my math is right).

As for protection, helms give a surprising amount assuming you can keep the gaps out of the direct stream - I remember one full contact re-enactor saying that the only safety requirement was that a 1/2" steel rod can't get into any of the eye/air slits.

As an aside, fat melts at about 184C, so you're likely to be dead well before then.

Paramedic.

Back of the envelope Imperial to metric guesstimates at 3 AM and 55 mph.

What are you doing as a paramedic all the way over there, if you don't mind my asking?