If Houston firefighters want to test their skills, they head to the fire department's 10,000-square-foot warehouse. Inside, walls are painted black, sirens blare and smoke fills the room. An explosion is triggered, as images of an engulfed building play on a movie theater-sized screen.

Such is the typical day in the life at the Houston Fire Department's Officer Development Center. The department has a $433 million operations budget, and responds to an average of 50,000 fire calls and 240,000 EMS calls, said Chief Phil Boriskie. As a result, training the department's officers and firefighters is crucial.

Boriskie lobbied the city for funds to be allocated to the rehabilitation of its fire department training academy. To secure the funds, he made the training academy a priority. The first task was to complete the reconstruction of its burn building and drill tower. The simulator was next on the list.

“We placed the training of firefighters as a priority because our most important job as leaders in the department is to ensure the men and women of this department go home safe every morning to their families,” he said.

The training facility morphed from a garage-based facility available only to chief officers to a warehouse used by firefighters as well as officers. The facility has two bays so officers may train up to 40 personnel at one time. The bays can be separate or combined for larger scenarios such as hurricanes and floods, Boriskie said. The training length depends on the course, anywhere from a four-hour course to an 80-hour course depending on the needs of the students and the curriculum they select.

Consoles display fireground simulations that focus on large-scale, multiple-alarm interoperability drills and are supported by a software suite created by FlannelGraph. Todd Temple, a partner in FlannelGraph, said his team created a custom software application that delivers media content for firefighter-training purposes.

“Houston needed to develop a system that would deliver simultaneous, synchronized media content, view and sound, to multiple kiosks or training stations,” Temple said.

The software runs on a master computer that has a touch screen. It is used to script the fire scenario. The applicable movie is then automatically pushed out through the network to about 20 standard off-the-shelf computers run over a local network, Temple said.

Scripts and content were developed by the city of Houston, Temple said. Officers determine the type of fire and obstacles firefighters will encounter, including sounds and explosions. It also can be programmed so that each computer or screen displays a different side of the building.

“Another way to look at is that they create a movie that's going to play on several screens simultaneously,” Temple said. “So when you play the script you can cause an explosion on the west side of the building and the other sides will hear the sound but maybe not [see] the explosion.”

Boriskie said the software has the ability to simulate any kind of hazard the fire department may face. Houston has target hazard areas throughout the city with associated tactical evaluation-assessment plans for every district. Such data is uploaded into the software and run as a simulation, he said.

“You can present target hazards associated with that structure, such as a high-rise or hazmat incident,” Boriskie said.

The software puts firefighters in the driver's seat, said Tony Reed, a captain and training officer with the fire department. Firefighters start at the firehouse, then drive the engine to the scene, receive instructions from dispatchers over the radio and then must react accordingly on the fireground.

“They start to mitigate any problems that come up,” Reed said. “And some of those problems are water supply, losing firefighters … we addressed those issues in the simulator and it's been very successful.”

In addition, firefighters like the training, as it was once reserved for chief officers only.

“Guys even come and run it on their days off, so I think they all like it,” he said.

Reed said simulation training is beneficial and departments need to consider implementing a program immediately. It translates quickly to the field, he said.

“We are big advocates of the simulation training,” Reed said.

The software system is a situational software only, said Brian Kimberly, another Houston Fire Department training officer. The department currently is testing Flame-Sim as another component, but are waiting to make purchasing decisions based on budgetary constraints.

“We were trying to find a tactical-level trainer, where we could get down to the nuts and bolts as far as entrances, entry points, attack modes,” Kimberly said. “For example, in studying our line-of-duty deaths we found that they happen in the first 10 minutes, so we'd try to focus training to [simulate that scenario] and evaluate our findings.”

The software can be customized as far as vehicles and scenarios, said Doug Seebach, Flame-Sim's vice president. Structures can be adapted, fires lit in any room within the structure and accelerants tailored “so you don't walk into the same place twice,” Seebach said.

“It comes with 150 scenarios we built for you, but also you can build as many as you want,” he said.

Kimberly said simulator training is starting to influence policies and procedures at the department, including testing materials. The department recently changed its high-rise firefighting guidelines based on the simulation results. In addition, Kimberly said the department now offers training to outside departments and have been “very successful in this market.” In fact, the department charges $2,500 for an eight-hour Chief Officer Development Course.

“HFD is strictly cost recovery and charges merely to replace manpower costs,” Kimberly said.

Kevin Alexander, HFD's assistant chief of professional development, said the training simulator helped leadership develop incident-command systems and practice elements of the National Incident Management System. Live NIMS drills point out strengths and weakness in existing firefighting-command structures, Alexander said.

“It really helps us with our understanding of the leadership abilities and to develop those individuals who need enhancement,” he said.

Alexander said the center trains 4,000 local and area firefighters each year. Such mutual-aid training helps identify weaknesses in regional response. It also identifies the command structure to be used during a cross-jurisdictional incident.

“It helps the region because we can develop programs that allow us to work off their protocols, their policies and standards,” Alexander said. “We also have the capability to take media they bring and change [the simulator's] scenery to what they are used to — such as types of industry and structures specific to the area — and give them the opportunity to work in that environment.”

Alexander said the simulator lets everyone — even him — hone firefighting skills. In addition, he noted that as a chief training officer, it's rewarding watching someone else learn on a simulator with live moving action.

“We must take every opportunity to train individuals and give them time to absorb and develop their skills,” Alexander said. “It gives them an opportunity to make mistakes and not have their life on the line. Then you can go back and revisit and correct those mistakes and then enhance their ability.”

Training must be a priority for firefighters, Boriskie added.

“The more you do things, the more comfortable and proficient you are at doing them,” he said. “So going out and training — whether strategic or tactical or task level — the more you do the better you are at it and the safer you are.”

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