Safety Region Gelderland Midden has established a specialized staging team to support stations with larger and more complex simulations. Combined with a trailer equipped with the latest simulation tools, they are taking training and exercises in Gelderland to the next level.
Specialists
In the Gelderland Midden region, they have long recognized the benefits of realistic staging. A realistic setup makes you believe in what you’re doing; you “forget” that it’s a drill, triggering the same mechanisms as in a real deployment. By practicing in realistic environments, you truly prepare people for real-life situations. This means that not only does it look realistic, but everything must align to make participants forget it’s not real. A large part of the exercise leaders in Gelderland Midden have been trained by FireWare in realistic staging and understand what’s involved.
Since the region has been working this way for some time, they are already experiencing the benefits. So, why establish a specialized team now? Marije van Bree and Henk den Rooyen explain that this regional team can be deployed to create larger and more complex scenarios. Previously, FireWare’s staging team was sometimes hired for this purpose. Now, they can do this more frequently and in-house. The team has access to larger and better equipment and has undergone more extensive training. In addition to the basic staging course, the team also completed an advanced course and custom training on using the materials available to them.
Staging Trailer
A trailer equipped with training materials has been set up for the staging team. The trailer contains everything needed to set up larger exercises. House fires, small industrial fires, wildfires, and even hazardous material incidents can be simulated without issues. VGGM has even staged a plane crash using this equipment!
Controlled via Smartphone or Tablet
The heart of the system is the Pandora’s Box 230, which manages the equipment. Up to three (flame) effects can be connected, along with a smoke machine and speakers. All of this can be controlled from your own smartphone or tablet, allowing dynamic control of large-scale scenarios, reacting to the progression of the exercise in real time.
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
To create flames, you need fire spots that shine in a column of smoke. The trailer contains several heavy-duty smoke machines and a smoke hose that can be easily connected to the Stratus smoke machines. This allows you to create a line of smoke, ideal for simulating ground fires in a forest fire or smoke coming from a roof edge in a fully developed indoor fire. For hazardous material exercises, the smoke hose and lighter smoke fluid can also mimic an evaporating pool.
The trailer includes FireSpots to make flames visible in the smoke. For large firefronts, there are Phoenix Silkflames, perfect for raging fires. Even without the 200 cm-long silk flame cloth, they push smoke upward, illuminated by powerful LEDs, creating an intense fire effect.
Explosions
An explosion cannon is also included. This device creates a bang you can really feel, triggered by remote control. It’s often difficult to simulate a real threat, such as gas cylinders near a fire source. But once you hear this bang, everyone is on high alert, ready to meet the exercise goals.
Operational
Significant effort has been made to make the team and equipment operational, with major compliments to the region’s workshop for installing all the equipment in the trailer! VGGM can now practice larger and more complex incidents, preparing thoroughly for real-world scenarios.
