20 Jan National Fire Protection Association turns to virtual reality fire training

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is utilising virtual reality to train their firefighters, in a move that could be leading for fire services around the world.

The fire service are not the first to engage the use of VR and AR within training, and professionals around the world including health care workers and military personnel use these techniques to train. Experts say the fire service could be next in line to adopt the technologies, collectively known as immersive learning, for training.

The NFPA showcased how the use of VR and AR might work within their own training styles, in an informative video to their official YouTube channel.

The NFPA also highlighted the benefits of using immersive learning, especially for training firefighters “in unique, complex and emerging response scenarios like electric vehicle fires.”

The use of new technology is also being deployed as a recruitment tactic to bring new people into the fire service.

In 2020, the US Fire Administration confirmed VR may be used in training via a statement. they said: “VR technology is raising the bar in firefighter training, while helping save lives and conserve valuable resources. The use of VR technology allows training for incidents that cannot easily be replicated or may be very costly to recreate, not to mention eliminating the hazards involved in live training.”

You can view the full video from the NFPA here.