A rural or even suburban municipality must perform a delicate balancing act between acquiring the right resources for its public servants and managing the costs it faces. This is in contrast to a large city or a more moneyed municipality, where equipment and training for public servants such, as the police and fire department, is typically far easier to acquire and use. As in the case of firefighters, the effectiveness of those firefighters can be improved through advanced training and simulations, yet these take time, space, and money that local municipalities often do not have.
At least, this used to be the case, but the development of mobile fire training systems capable of delivering live fire training has transformed the training capabilities of local fire departments. A mobile fire training system works by providing a training simulation using real flames and smoke that can be controlled in order to intensify or scale down the simulation. The structure can take many forms, allowing fire departments to use the simulation that is most beneficial to their firefighters.
Going Local
Mobile training systems allow local departments and agencies to keep their resources exactly where they belong – local. Before the use of mobile training systems, it was necessary for firefighters to travel to a facility where they could get the training they needed to be safe and effective when a real fire called on their skills, expertise, and bravery. The problem with this system is obvious: fires don’t stop happening simply because the local department has most of its firefighters away on training.
As a result, some departments were caught with minimal staff when a serious emergency required their services. The consequences when something like this occurs can be deadly, for both the firefighters and any victims in the flames. In order to protect the public as well as those who serve them, local municipalities have turned to mobile training systems.
Mobile training systems can be moved to the municipality where the training is being conducted; given the right conditions, it can even be done on the fire department’s property. Should any emergency services be required, training can be quickly and easily ended, and the entirety of the fire department can be brought to bear on the emergency. As you can imagine, this is considerably safer and more effective than chancing sending the majority of your emergency response personnel – the people responsible for saving other peoples’ lives – away for training.
Mobile Training Systems Gain Popularity
Rural areas are the municipalities primarily benefitting from the ease of use, access, and affordability of mobile training systems. Recently, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System acquired a Fireblast Double Two-Story Fireflash Trainer, a Mobile Car Prop, and a Mobile Helicopter Prop. While these mobile simulators will provide important training for Kentucky’s firefighters, they will also ensure that those firefighters are on-call and available to protect the public should it be necessary.
Unfortunately, it is often necessary. That, in fact, is why cutting-edge mobile training simulators like those available from Fireblast Global are in such high demand from rural communities seeking to improve the readiness of their public servants. That readiness translates to lives saved, both for the firefighters and for the public, and it does this while also reducing costs and saving time.
Furthermore, the training process itself is improved thanks to the increased access to department resources that mobile training simulators provide. By taking the simulator local, fire departments can use more of the resources kept and maintained at the station in their training exercises. For the firefighters who are participating in the training, the experience – and the results – can only be improved by working with more of the equipment that they will be expected to be both knowledgeable about and skilled with.
It is difficult to say what the future of live fire training is, but with the development and popularity of mobile training systems, it is obvious that rural and suburban municipalities will not be left behind, even while their budget and location prove to restrict their options as far as training is concerned. Future training systems will have to account for the needs of more remote locations. Fortunately, Fireblast Global’s training systems already do.
Contact Fireblast Global at 1-951-277-8319 for more information on our fire training services and how we can help you fight fires the smart way.