Is DEET Flammable?

With every new bug season, come swarms of new questions as to how to properly use insect repellent while wearing FR garments. Here are Bulwark’s “do and don’t” details. Make that, DEETails.

DEET is the active ingredient in many well known, and often used, insect repellents (liquids, lotions, sprays, wristbands, etc.) It is used to ward off biting pests such as mosquitoes and ticks – insects that may or may not be carrying far peskier diseases like West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease.

The problem for those who work outdoors in oil & gas and electric utility? DEET is HIGHLY flammable. Especially in concentrated form. Any flame resistant clothing sprayed with it has the potential to ignite and continue to burn if exposed to an ignition hazard. Your guys don’t need that kind of fuel source.

Bulwark’s best advice: DEET should be sprayed directly on the skin, and never on your FR. So stay, and spray, safe as warm weather is here.