Fire Fighter Training Research

The most effective method for learning how to fight fire is to fight fire. This however is expensive and particularly dangerous for the trainee. In particular, some fire situations that must be trained for are too large and dangerous to re-create in a training setting involving real fires. Environmental concerns are limiting the amount and kind of live fire training available in many areas of the country. Methods are then needed to allow fire fighters to gain valuable experience using virtual reality techniques already applied in other fields so that they may learn without the possibility of harming themselves or others.

Virtual Fire Fighter Trainer Project

This project continues to develop a computer based fire fighting training tool to improve training opportunities while lowering the cost and risk of death and injury. Two methods are being used to create a training tool. The first and simpler method is to use FDS and Smokeview to create animations of fire scenarios. These animations will be viewable in a standard DVD player. The DVD menus will be used to walk a fire fighter through a series of decisions. The second method will be more interactive. Using Smokeview, the trainee will “walk” through an FDS generated fire scene observing and making decisions.

The NIST developed fire science software tools, NIST FDS and Smokeview will be used as a basis for developing a virtual reality based fire fighting training tool. As a fire simulation unfolds a series of natural break point will be encountered where the trainee will be asked questions such as: Should the window be opened? Should the door be closed? Should the hose stream be opened? The simulation will continue based on the answers provided. These questions will be designed to teach the trainee about tactics relevant to fire fighting such as the effect ventilation on fire spread. Since FDS cannot yet perform calculations in real time, simulations will be pre-computed for all possible question outcomes. Smokeview will be enhanced to be able to “jump” from one scenario to another according to the trainee’s responses.

Approach: Apply, adapt and extend on simulation and visualization techniques successfully applied in other fields to create fire fighter training tools. Use fire modeling and visualization software (FDS and Smokeview) to simulate and visualize typical fire fighter training scenarios.

Phase 1 – Create illustrations and animations using FDS and Smokeview illustrating basic fire and smoke flow behavior encountered when fire fighting.
Phase 2 – Create computerized training environments illustrating various venting strategies and suppression effectiveness for several building types (townhouse, ranch house, training tower)
Phase 3 – Allow the trainee to interact with the training environments created in Phase 2.

Report

Fatal Training Fires: Fire Analysis for the Fire Service
Madrzykowski, D., Interflam 2007. (Interflam '07). International Interflam Conference, 11th Proceedings. September 3-5, 2007, London, England, 1-12 pp, 2007.