Opening of new Incident Command Training Suite

Описание: New training facility officially opened at Fire Service Headquarters
Wednesday 21 September 2016
A brand new Incident Command training suite, which is based at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Headquarters in Arnold, was officially opened today (Wednesday 21 September).

The facility is kitted out with purpose built virtual reality software that allows the Service’s Incident Commanders, who take charge at incidents and co-ordinate firefighting and rescues, to train in virtual environments that are both realistic and challenging.

Designed by XVR Simulation, the software allows training staff to create an on-screen scenario, such as a fire or a road traffic collision, that the trainees have to then deal with. The trainers can also alter the environments and change the scenarios as they are played out.

The new technology is already in use and ultimately means the training that Nottinghamshire’s Crew Managers, Watch Managers, Station Managers and above now have access to is better than ever.

“A lot of hard work has gone into the creation of this new facility and we’re all delighted that it is now complete,” said Station Manager Mark Dooley, who runs the Service’s Incident Command Training Team and has overseen the creation of the new suite.

“Incident Commanders play an absolutely vital role on the incident ground. They co-ordinate our responses to fires, collisions and other rescues and the decisions they make are paramount to how successful our work can be. They really do have people’s lives in their hands.

“It is therefore so important that future Incident Commanders are given the best training possible, and that present Incident Commanders are able to keep up their skills.

“This new facility and XVR Simulation’s software allows us to do this by placing our staff at the heart of incidents that we can control. The software displays these incidents on a big screen in one of four rooms – trainees then take charge of the situations through a virtual character in the programme, using a remote control handset.

“Despite the fact it’s only virtual, making it completely safe for our staff, it is as close to the real thing as you can get. The scenarios are the same as they would be in real life and the decision making process for Incident Commanders is therefore exactly the same.

“We’ve had great feedback on the new suite so far, and our partner emergency services have also expressed an interest in utilising the facility for their own purposes, so it’s amazing to think that in the future we could have Incident Commanders from all three Services across Nottinghamshire training here.”

A number of guests attended the opening ceremony, including Councillor Darrell Pulk, Chair of the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority.

They will all be given a tour around the facility and have a demonstration on how the software works for an assessment scenario. Also in attendance will be Joost Beerthuis, the Chief Executive of XVR Simulation.