How the National Fire Protection Association increases safety, efficiency and accessibility with immersive digital training

The NFPA is a widely known codes and standards global organisation that helps fire fighters save lives through research, training and education. To provide safe and standardised training, they required a program that would teach firefighters worldwide how to handle fires caused by DERs, for example, electric vehicle (EV) fires, which require unique mitigation strategies. 

GHD Digital's Mixed Reality and Digital Engineering (MRDE) team built an immersive and comprehensive digital Firefighter Incident Response Simulation Tool (FIRST) for the NFPA. This MRDE simulation used gamification scenarios, which made the training modules more interactive and dynamic. Fire commanders could also control the scenes and communicate directly with their teams in real-time.

FIRST was designed to imitate different DER fire sources, with a starting point of EV fires. This allowed firefighters to develop an in-depth understanding of the EV fires and how to identify the best course of action, helping firefighters determine the unique mitigation strategies required for each EV fire.

As a result of our efforts, the NFPA’s training programs are safer, more efficient and globally accessible. The immersive nature of interactive learning means that firefighters are better prepared for the realities of increased fire threats from more households using EV charging stations.  

The software program can be integrated into any future training module requirements to illustrate different DER situations and coinciding actions. The NFPA is currently exploring opportunities to expand the MRDE simulation, which will further enhance firefighter training and preparedness.

Safety is the most important goal and using a simulation for education increases safety, reduces operational and labour costs and training time. Simulations like these help protect our clients and their communities.