8 keys to good firefighter extrication gloves

Many fire departments have evolved from being strictly a fire suppression and protection operation to that of an all-hazards emergency services organization. For many of those departments, providing technical rescue services like vehicle extrication, rope rescue, water rescue and high-angle rescue, is a big part of their package.
As more departments became engaged in technical rescue, firefighters found a profound performance gap existed between the protection and dexterity previously offered by their two glove options.
Firefighting gloves compliant with the NFPA 1971 offer good protection from cuts and abrasions, but at the cost of a significant loss of manual dexterity.
Ordinary leather work gloves, that while allowing good dexterity, often were no match for the hazards of broken glass and jagged metal.
Firefighters were quick to adapt and overcome those glove shortcomings. Many of them started carrying auto repair gloves in addition to their structural and utility work gloves.
Likewise, glove manufacturers were quick to spot an emerging market and started to produce protective gloves specifically targeted for each of the technical rescue disciplines.
While early models of rescue gloves used leather as the basic material for the glove's body, all of the major manufacturers of extrication gloves are now using synthetic fibers, either Kevlar or Dyneema, as the major component. Both offer five to 10 times the cut protection of leather.
There are also Kevlar/steel and Dyneema/steel combination gloves, offering 20 times the cut resistance of comparable-weight leather gloves.

NFPA 1951