Hall County Fire Services has adopted a new virtual training program that uses technology to hone strategic response.
The Blue Card Incident Command System is considered the gold standard in emergency services and is used internationally. Deputy Chief of Preparedness for Hall County Fire Services Tim Woodward, says Blue Card creates 30 virtual scenarios to work through.
"It's pretty realistic, it is a fully immersed kind of training for these folks, for us, it takes them inside of occupancies, inside of structures, they have to make real time decisions," said Woodward. "The incident commanders have to direct a number of different resources with the outcome in mind, they want to make sure they are as effective, efficient and safe as possible. It gives them the opportunity to practice these events in a controlled setting but also have a little bit of stress that's there."
Woodward said during training, each person works with their peers under a time compression to handle the scenario, which creates a more realistic experience.
"The beauty of it is, we can run that scenario in about 15 to 20 minutes, and what we would do is review it for 10 minutes and then reset the next one," said Woodward, which allows them to rotate their firefighters in different roles more quickly.
"It doesn't take a lot of set up, there's no risk to manage, like if we had to go out and work inside of a structure or work outside in an event," he said. "It's all managed inside of our classrooms. But the immersive part of it really brings it to life."
Woodward said it has some of the feel of traditional video games, but it is less like a game and more like practicing strategy in a range of scenarios, from varying types of fires to auto accidents to mass casualty scenarios.
"Each of our users gets an iPad, identified by whatever resource they'd be responding that day," said Woodward. That could be a specific fire engine, a ladder truck, a medic unit, or the battalion chiefs. "They wear a headset, so they're in communication with other units on scene, and as they walk through the incident, they're faced with selections of choices they have to make."
"You have to make decisions, which ultimately leads us to the ability to talk about the tactics and strategies that they use."
The program was initiated at the beginning of July and will kick off officially on August 1.
Over 300 HCFS members will complete at least 50 hours of training to learn the new emergency communication systems and incident management practices while experiencing various types and complexities of virtual emergency operations.
The program has been nationally endorsed by International Association of Fire Chiefs Safety, Health and Survival Section, Center for Public Excellence, International Society of Fire Service Instructors, and Fire Department Safety Officers Association.
