‘It feels so realistic’: VR fire safety program launches in Calgary

A program designed to bring all the realism of making decisions on how to handle a fire without any of the risk is coming to Calgary.

The Calgary Fire Department rolled out a virtual reality (VR) program to help educate Calgarians on how to handle real-life situations in a safe and controlled manner.

“It feels so realistic,” Brody Quinn, a Calgary student, said.

Quinn said the VR headset made his experience “like something that happens in real life and something that could happen in real life.”

Among what he learned, Quinn said, was that the best way to put out a grease fire is not to put water on it, but rather to put a lid on the pot.

“I think I learned a lot from this. And yes, it is very realistic.”

2:34 Friends remember victims of Calgary house fire

The CFD, the City of Calgary and ConocoPhillips collaborated to create the immersive program that teaches users how to identify common hazards in a virtual home and how to deal with a stove-top fire. Stove-top fires are the leading cause of home fires in Calgary.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the program should help Calgarians when they’re faced with a fire emergency.

“You don’t have time to react. It has to be ingrained in your brain what you’re going to do to get out of that situation,” she said. “And if you can give young people and their families the opportunity to experience through VR what kind of a situation they might be in and what an escape looks like, you’re preparing them for something that might ultimately happen to them.”

The mayor said the realism of VR helps drive those lessons home.

“People really like to be in the midst of a situation or they like to have something tangible so they can understand why it’s important to ensure that your smoke alarms are working properly, that you’re changing the batteries, that you’re testing them, that you have a plan to leave your home should something happen. And so to use VR to give them that tangible is really important.”

2:37 Businesses gutted and others closed for weeks after fire at southwest Calgary strip mall

CFD Chief Steve Dongworth said this is a novel use of technology to train citizens about fire dangers.

“I know of many fire departments who are starting to use it for training firefighters, but in terms of using this in the way we are, an immersive experience for vulnerable populations to help hopefully reduce the incidence of fire and fire injuries,” he said. “No one else is doing that that I’m aware of in North America today.”

The program will be launched in seven languages.

Ariane Khouri, a French- and English-speaking student who tried out the program at its launch, said using the program in French was easy and helped her understand what was going on.

“I think it makes it a lot easier because for some people who don’t know how to speak English or another language, they wouldn’t be able to understand as much, so they wouldn’t be able to learn as much as we did,” Khouri said.

1:50 Calgary business owners left to pick up the pieces following devastating fire

The fire department is open to the possibility of having to adjust the program by adding new languages or by adapting it to changes in technology, the chief said.

Local software companies Red Iron Labs and Vizworx worked on the software. Approximately $110,000 from the city’s council innovation fund and ConocoPhillips went into the software development.

The headsets will be rolled out to select schools and events over the next two years, and the fire department is looking at getting the program out through other means. Hardware and maintenance costs are being covered by ConocoPhillips.

“We can put it on a computer for people who don’t have VR, and that really extends the reach,” Dongworth said. “The greatest thing we could do is make this accessible to everyone and that’s the goal.”

“We’re at the beginning of the journey.”

This is the latest safety outreach item the oil and gas exploration and production company has sponsored for the CFD. The VR training program joins a fire safety trailer, the translation of safety literature into multiple languages, support for the Youth Firesetter and Prevention Referral and Education Service and the school fire drill program.

Bij Agarwal, president of ConocoPhillips Canada, said the VR offering will help people learn “vital skills that save lives.”

“I look forward to hearing how the VR program is received in schools and in the community and to hearing how it changes lives for the better.”