Marc Goldberg, Fire Science program coordinator at CCC, added that before getting the simulator, pump training required a department fire truck to be available, which is a logistical difficulty as fire crews respond to calls in northern Arizona on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis. Also, there was also the wasting of hundreds of gallons of water and the possibility of a student accidentally burning out a pump, which is a costly mistake for a $700,000 fire engine.
The PumpOps simulator doesn’t use water and students and trainees can’t actually burn out a pump. Of course, they can simulate it – nowhere near as costly a proposition.