A problem only firefighters could solve
The year was 2016, and two career firefighters named Pat Case and Cody Cavin were attending a hazmat technician course together…
After lugging their SCBA masks all over campus, wrapped in bulky mask bags that did virtually nothing to protect the mask, they realized something:
There had to be a better way.
Cody, with a background in custom leatherwork, decided he was going to figure that “better way” out, and make it a reality.
The solution he created was incredibly durable, looked damn good, and was shockingly easy to use.
The Next Logical Step
After less than a day of showing the new concept shield to other firefighters, the question that started it all was asked:
“where can I buy one of these?”
That question drove Pat to put his four-year degree in corporate finance and accounting to good use: founding a company and start making these for firefighters.
BA Shields was born.
Almost immediately after starting production, however, a new realization struck the pair of founders.
A realization that would push their young company in a much bigger direction.
Protection and training
As fire instructors, the pair knew that there was no reliable solution for SCBA blackout training that could be used over and over with ease.
They knew because they had tried it all.
Wax paper was unrealistic and always fell out, press-and-seal left behind an annoying residue, and putting a flash hood on backwards was so unrealistic it was almost worse than doing nothing.
The painful reality was staring them in the face: firefighters were being forced to make do with half-assed blackout options that did more harm then good.
That is… until it was suggested to leave a BA Shield on the mask during training.
That suggestion transformed BA Shields from the best SCBA protection option to the ultimate SCBA protection option and blackout training tool with unlimited uses.
SCBA Mask Protection and Training… Without Limits.
Always Growing, Never Losing Sight of What’s Important
Fast-forward to today and BA Shields are still being manufactured right here in the USA, with locally sourced materials from firefighter or veteran-owned companies.
Only, instead of it taking hours to make a single shield in someone’s garage…
Pat and Cody now run a robust manufacturing location that can churn out hundreds of shields a day with excellent quality control.
From that very first shield sold back in 2016, to the tens of thousands of shields in some of the biggest and busiest cities…
BA Shields has maintained it’s connection to the protection and readiness of the firefighters on the ground doing the work.