February 26, 2022 – The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) is taking home fire safety education to the next level with a new virtual reality, 360-degree house fire flashover and sprinkler comparison video created with actual fire footage.
Thanks to state-of-the-art cinematic technology, viewers can experience the fires without and with an installed sprinkler as if they were inside the burning house. They can watch flames and smoke from any angle and hear the fire crackle and smoke alarms activate. In the video without a fire sprinkler, viewers will see flashover occur in real time and watch how fast the flames and smoke spread. When they watch the video with an installed fire sprinkler, they’ll learn how the high heat from the fire activates the water flow and see the sprinkler quickly control the blaze and minimize smoke spread.
Free, Online Viewing
The virtual reality video can be viewed on demand at no cost on HFSC’s website. Viewers using a computer can move their mouse or trackpad to look all around inside the active fire rooms. Turning a tablet or other smart device will achieve the same 360 views of the fires.
Immersive Formal Education
For a more immersive educational experience, HFSC will provide members of the fire service with an advanced virtual reality kit. The kit includes high-tech headsets where viewers can experience the two fires as a realistic 3D home fire scene. The videos can be presented to target audiences in individual or group settings, The kit is ideal for fire service education outreach to any local stakeholder involved in the decision to protect new homes with fire sprinklers, such as builders, developers, planners, building officials and water purveyors.
FEMA-Funded Fire Service Resource
HFSC produced the VR video in 2021 with a seed grant from State Farm. HFSC was later awarded a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant to build on that initial production, promote it to the fire service and the public, and purchase a set of the Immersive Kits in order to work directly with the fire service to present and evaluate the effectiveness of the virtual reality experience.
“This grant award will allow HFSC to roll out this innovative new resource to the fire service and offer guidance so they can educate their target stakeholders and advocate for home fire sprinklers in local new-construction homes,” says HFSC President Lorraine Carli. “We are grateful for this funding, which is an example of the power of public-private partnerships that enhance local community risk reduction.”
HFSC is partnering with U.S. fire departments in the grant-funded formal evaluation. With guidance from HFSC team leaders, these departments will plan and present the virtual reality education resource as a method to mitigate the home fire problem in their jurisdictions, based on the high-risk local populations they’ve identified as part of their community risk reduction work.
The grant allowed for an initial purchase of portable, reusable, Immersive Virtual Reality Education Kits, each containing 15 headsets and a presentati