Tuesday afternoon at FDIC 2014 featured one session which took a step away from the usual fireground training, leadership, evolution, or any number of other general firefighter concerns to take a look at modern technology and its place in fire service training with Sandia National Labs Command Trainer Ted Nee and his class “Getting the Most from Your Incident Simulation Software.”
Nee discussed why simulation training is integral to the preparation of any fire department, saying, “Some departments say ‘Hey, we’re pretty good,’ and then they don’t work any harder. They say, ‘We did a good job; the fire’s still out,’ and people plateau out and they don’t work hard enough to get to that next level. But in our job, is ‘pretty good’ the gold standard of our performance?”
In the following video, Nee offers some tips on some of the major responder simulation software products such as Digital Combustion, Fire Studio, and Stage It:
Here, Nee presents students with an demonstration of a flight simulation program for airline pilots that details the “Miracle on the Hudson” incident should a similar situation ever arise:
Nee concluded, “The goal of this class is to show fire service instructors how to use incident simulations in the most effective way possible. I have been using incident simulations to teach since before there were any commercial software products on the market.” Nee also covered tips and tricks to help other instructors work smarter rather than harder when it comes to designing and developing incident simulation training.”
