With sirens wailing and lights flashing, it’s easy to forget that the massive wheel you’re sitting behind is steering a simulation, not an actual 60,000-pound fire truck. Your pulse picks up, your palms start sweating, but if you let the panic set in, you’ll take a turn too hard and flatten a pixelated motorist on your way to the virtual house fire.
This is the $250,000 state-of-the-art fire truck driving simulator used in the St. George Fire Protection District’s administrative and training facility, freshly completed in March 2015. It’s a product of Doron Precision Systems, the developer behind many military piloting simulators. District fire chief Jack Jones affectionately calls it their “toy,” but when it comes to training new recruits and keeping veterans sharp, it’s all business.
“It’s technology that we can utilize to help us and basically help the citizens,” Jones says. “The safer we’re driving, it’s going to be better for everyone. We get to the calls faster, we’re getting there safer … And with this, we can put [recruits] in conditions they’re not normally familiar with. We can put them in ice and snow, and they can really feel what it’s like, so they could be ready.”
The simulator is set up exactly like the cab of an emergency response vehicle, complete with adjustable mirrors, functional air conditioning vents, sirens, seatbelts and myriad buttons on the dashboard. Screens show a three-dimensional environment through the windshield and windows.
The finely tuned physics of the simulator will apply resistance to the wheel based on road conditions and jostle your seat if you bump a curb—or smash into a building.
It’s certainly fun to take for a spin, but the challenges are far from easy.
Behind the simulator, Jones sits at a control desk, clicking through scenarios from dodging children to helping after a plane crash. Each recruit logs 40 simulator hours before he or she gets to handle the real thing.
It’s just a part of the extensive 18-week training course the recruits undergo at
St. George Fire, along with a command simulator and fighting real fires up to 600 degrees in a burn structure built on the campus. The goal is always to prepare recruits to help the people of Baton Rouge as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“We’ve already had 25 calls today, and it’s only 3 p.m.,” Jones says. “But hey, it’s what we do.”
