Out of the Fire and Into the High-Tech Training Center

Lt. Dave Piper had a decision to make.

He could try to put out a ranch house fire, or an apartment building ablaze. Piper could also work on one engulfing a big box store. Battalion Chief Randy Reeder suggested Piper go after the apartment building.

No, the two Orland Fire Protection District officers were not facing a cataclysm of Biblical proportions. They were safely ensconced in the district's training facility, setting up a virtual scenario.

The district's new Command Training Center uses computers and theatrical effects, such as smoke machines and programmable lighting, to recreate the different dangers firefighters encounter.

"This program allows our members and other departments to train on what they will see on a day-to-day basis," Piper said. "We can run multiple situations of burning houses and accidents over and over, until we all are on the same page for how we are supposed to operate."

The Command Training Center creates electronic simulations similar to military and flight-training exercises. While Reeder and Piper agree live drills on physical training grounds are important, the CTC allows for more repetition in dealing with different types of fires —without the risks and logistical difficulties of running live drills.

"If it doesn't go the way we want, I can literally hit the pause button, reset it and we do it again," Piper said.

The CTC is made up of 12 computer screens in the training facility. Ten of the screens connect to three triangular kiosk-like stations the size of widescreen desktop monitors. A larger screen is separated from the others with an actual SUV parked in front of it for the lead officer working the scenario. Another large screen is up in front of an actual fire engine on the training facility's ground floor.

Each screen creates what a firefighter will see, whether he is breaking through a roof or front door, or is just stepping off the engine and getting a first look at the blaze. Aspects of the dimly lit room on the second floor can change to mimic a full-on thunderstorm if desired, Piper said.

The CTC cost $151,950 to build, and was paid for through grants from the Illinois Public Risk Fund, according to IPRF Secretary Tom English. The IPRF is a workman's-comp insurance provider for taxing bodies, such as schools, police and fire departments, public works and other municipal offices. As part of the grant agreement, the CTC will be open for all area departments to train on periodically.

Reeder said the idea to build a CTC in Orland came from seeing a similar system at the Phoenix Fire Department in Arizona about five years ago. Over the course of the past two years, the district earned grants and installed the equipment. The district's CTC training began in May.  

Similar simulations can be done with emergency medical services and will be the next phase of this type of training, Piper said. Vital sign readings from mannequins can be programmed to fluctuate depending on the choices made by a firefighter working a simulation. If the virtual patient is lost, the firefighter will try again until the right choices are made, Piper said.

"When they leave the training center, we want them to be successful, because the next time they do it for real could be as little as 10 minutes after they leave the site," Piper said. "Studies show if you are out there, and get in a high-stress event, you go back to how you train.

"Chief Reeder likes to bring up Sully Sullenberger. He never flew an actual plane onto the surface of a river before he had to land on the Hudson."