FLAIM’s immersive learning solution, FLAIM Trainer, is being used to train future firefighters at several schools in Jefferson County, United States.
University of Louisville Associate Professor, Shannon Putman, is a virtual reality expert and teacher in the County and says FLAIM is the most impressive all-in-one system she has ever used.
”FLAIM Trainer is in a word ‘phenomenal’! There are so many critical pieces that were thought about when designing this system that I don’t think I could list them all.
“The strength it takes to pull and manage the hose, the disorientation you feel, the fact that you think the fire is out, but it really is still a danger, the different materials (water, foam), spray adjustment, the list could go on and on.
“I have been working with VR for almost 8 years and conducting Ph.D. level research for almost 3, and I can tell you that FLAIM is the single most impressive all in one system I have ever used,” Ms Putman said.
The Fire Science Academy at Fern Creek High School (FCHS) is one of the training colleges in Jefferson Country using the FLAIM Trainer immersive learning solution.
Mark LaMaster, retired firefighter from Louisville Fire Department who teaches fire science at FCHS says the disorientation FLAIM Trainer gives you is completely realistic. Watch his reaction in the video below.
In a news feature on their VR program, Jefferson County Public School’s VR leader, Jack Bosley, told Kentucky’s Spectrum News: “Virtual reality is of the most exciting technologies I’ve used in my career and it aligns perfectly with JCPS’s future state vision because of it’s high level of engagement and its ability to immerse students in unique learning environments”.
Fern Creek Fire Chief Nathan Mulvey, himself a graduate of FCHS (class of 1996) says the program is cultivating new recruits with a students’ classroom work equalling months of department training they would otherwise need to complete. “They are able to get training done now while they’re in school that would take them six months to two years after they graduated,” Chief Mulvey told Spectrum News.
Chief Mulvey said he never could have imagined this career resource when he was a student. “To think that students now can do things to train in a safe manner, that we just don’t have the resources to provide to them, is unfathomable.”
Watch a Spectrum News video with students from FCHS and Chief Mulvey here and read more on FLAIM and VR in Jefferson County Public Schools here.
