An Introduction to Fire360
Fire360 is a VR Firefighter Command Simulation. The goal of the application is to help firefighters-in-training reinforce procedural behaviors to then use on the job. The firefighters are then guided by a trainer throughout the simulation through various kinds of obstacles. This version of Fire360 takes place in a virtual environment that represents a multi-story apartment complex in Miami. I will go through the capabilities of the simulation below:
The Capabilities of Fire360 v2
The simulation contains 12 Crews of Firefighters assigned to a vehicle increased from the 5 vehicles on the previous version. Vehicles are made up of 1 command, 4 engines, 3 quint, and 4 rescue vehicles. The trainer can assign tasks to these NPC Crews according to the commands sent from the “Tactical” or the first firefighter to show up to the scene of a fire. The tasks they are able to do are as follows:
- All the capabilities of Fire360v1 fundamentally rewritten for scale
- Leave : In addition to arrival we now have the capability for any vehicle to leave the simulation, this is useful for rescues that take in victims or situations were vehicles need to be swapped for a new unit.
- Defensive Jumpline : This is a defensive position where the firefighters on the scene will use multiple jumplines to spray water on the property in a formation.
- Deploy Quint Ladder : As it is a multi-story complex, the quint ladder is used to reach the roof of the property. This task is to ensure the vehicle is sent to the right position near the property in order to deploy the ladder.
- Roof Inspection : Similar to 360 Inspection except on the roof.
- Roof Overhaul : Break specific areas above the potentially engulfed apartments to check for fire infiltration.
- Rescue Victim : A task specific to rescue units to retrieve victims from the firemen waiting in the courtyard of the complex.
- Cancel Task
The simulation is controlled by a trainer using an iPad app that was also developed by the I-CAVE team. It is used as a control center for all actions that take place within the simulation. The new capabilities of this iPad app are as follows:
- All the capabilities of Fire360v1 iPad app rewritten with Blazor
- A New Fire and Smoke System : There are 6 potential fires that can erupt in this complex with 29 permutations of how the fire can spread to neighboring apartments and eventually to the roof. The app will allow the user to select how many apartments ignite, how far it spreads with control of the path of spread.
- Reset : This gives the user an easy way of starting a new simulation right from the app.
- Force Expansion : Since the spread of the fire is controller by an internal timer in the program, this option allows the user to force the spread at any point in time in the simulation.
- Reset Expansion: This options allows the user to start the fire from its original point of origin and spread again at any point in time in the simulation even after putting the fire out.
- Clear Expansion: Clears all fire and smoke in the simulation.
Looking Forward
The current team at I-CAVE is excited to show the new training system. They are currently in the process of fixing bugs and preparing for a showcase. Stay tuned in the Projects Section of the I-CAVE site to keep up to date!
