Virtual reality technology transforming training methods for firefighters ahead of fire season

17 October 2018

AUSTRALIA – Fire season will start earlier than usual in some districts of South Australia next week, but the state’s Country Fire Service (CFS) is preparing some of its firefighters without any actual fire.

A new type of gaming technology which replicates major fires and severe road crashes is being tested in South Australia.

A range of computer-generated programs — currently being used in Victoria — have been developed to help crews better prepare for what they might face on the job.

The CFS is training dozens of its own members to use the technology, and hopes to use it across the organisation in the future if it can secure funding.

You can do it all on a computer’
The Country Fire Authority in Victoria brought the technology to South Australia for local CFS and MFS firefighters to trial.

Firefighters wear virtual reality goggles as they extinguish a house fire using a hose that stimulates the water pressure of a real one.

Not only does the scenario look realistic, it even feels real, with heat packs worn on top of clothing, and a breathing apparatus weighing up 30 kilograms.

Staff can also carry out incident management using interactive maps to track a developing bushfire, and as the blaze moves and changes, the map updates.

State training officer for the CFS Adam Shearer said he was impressed by how realistic the programs were.

“When I first joined the CFS as a volunteer nine years ago I never thought I would be training in front of a computer to put a fire out,” he said.

“There is no need for us to be out lighting fires and trying to simulate road crashes and serious incidents when you can do it all on a computer.”

Brenton Eden — who has been with the CFS for 40 years — said a big benefit was that a bigger group of staff and volunteers could benefit from the technology.

“We have got 10,500 volunteers right across the state, we can’t deliver the type of training we require for them at their local area,” he said.

“So the ability to take this training out into the regions, away from fixed infrastructure, would be hugely beneficial.”

More environmentally-friendly way to train
Creating realistic fire situations for training purposes is inherently unsafe and difficult to control.

Burning fires and destroying infrastructure for firefighters to train with also has an impact on the environment.

Mr Eden said the software was a cheaper and more sustainable way forward.

“For a lot of the training the fire service do it’s a heavily polluting environment that we are in… this is not that at all, it’s very clean, green and friendly,” he said.

In South Australia, fire danger season will start early in the Flinders, Mid North, North West and North East Pastoral districts and the Yorke Peninsula.

From October 22 the first fire bans will be in place in the Flinders, North East Pastoral and North West Pastoral districts.

Last week, acting director of preparedness operations Brett Loughlin said a dry winter and increased temperatures for spring had brought the fire season forward.

“Despite some areas in the state experiencing a drought, recent fires have shown us that they can still move quickly despite a reduction in fuel to burn,” Mr Loughlin said.

“It will be especially important for farmers harvesting this year to ensure they have a water source on hand to extinguish a fire should it start.”

The last major fire event in South Australia was the 2015 Pinery bushfire.

Two people were killed, 70,000 stock were lost, and almost 100 homes and 400 farm structures were destroyed in the blaze, which burnt more than 82,500 hectares of land in the mid-north community in November 2015.

17. October 2018/by GFMCadmin