Why fire services use VR firefighting

Each incident brings its own dynamics and variables under pressure. Complex incidents, hazardous materials, weather variations, and multidisciplinary operations are realities that responders face, yet many of these scenarios are too costly, dangerous, or logistically challenging to recreate physically on a regular basis.

VR firefighting does not replace live drills. It strengthens existing training programs by expanding what teams can prepare for: crews can train incidents that are hard to recreate physically, such as energy storage system (ESS) failures and electric vehicle fires, build unlimited scenarios of their own with the Scenario Creator, create consistency in training quality across every team, station, and location, and learn safely, over and over again, with errors becoming learning opportunities instead of operational risks.

The measurable case is strong: research cited in the whitepaper on immersive crisis-simulation learning shows that VR learners complete training up to 4× faster than in the classroom and walk out up to 275% more confident to act (PwC enterprise study). A single traditional live burn can consume around 20,000 liters of water and gas or propane fuel; the immersive equivalent uses none.

What firefighters train in Academy

Flashgroup Academy covers the tactical and operational competencies at the core of professional firefighting:

• Master stream application, direct attack, and transitional attack
• Smoke-gas cooling and door-entry procedures
• Offensive and defensive firefighting strategies
• Anti-ventilation and fire-growth management
• Dynamic smoke behavior understanding
• Full 360° exterior reconnaissance methods
• Use of thermal imaging cameras and explosion detection meters
• Hazmat scenarios, including lithium-ion incidents and ESS failures
• Team communication and tactical decision-making under pressure
• Command & control: commanders can influence the scenario live and train together with the firefighters (see Incident Command Training)

Build the incident your crew needs to train

Academy runs across a growing set of environments, from row houses and walk-up apartment buildings to a school, an office, a fuel station, a metro station, an oil refinery, a farm, and a motorway, with new environments added every quarter. What a crew faces inside them is built by the instructor rather than picked from a fixed list, which is what lets training follow a service’s own priorities instead of a catalogue.

With the Scenario Creator, instructors design custom scenarios that match their team’s specific training needs: choosing environments, objectives, and hazards, placing victims, opening or closing doors and windows, and adjusting how smoke and fire develop in real time. The instructor’s expertise stays at the heart of every session. Flashgroup can also develop custom content on request; ask your account contact about requesting a scenario built specifically for your department.

Evaluate every move with After-Action Review

The After-Action Review lets instructors pause, replay, and change perspectives during evaluation, including viewing your own actions through a colleague’s point of view and from multiple viewpoints, highlighting crucial moments and identifying areas for improvement, so crews can discuss exactly what happened and why.

Train as you fight: hardware built for fire crews

Academy is a complete plug-and-train system in a robust portable case with a built-in computer and touchscreen. Key specifications for fire services:

Full-scale nozzle replicas support train-as-you-fight immersion, so crews develop instinctive equipment mastery while understanding how their choices affect incident outcomes.

Multidisciplinary by design

Emergency operations are rarely solo efforts. Academy enables firefighters, police, and EMS personnel to practice coordinated response in the same virtual incident, improving communication, role clarity, and trust.

Trusted by professional fire services

Fire services already use Academy in crew training. Pieter van Wijk, teacher at Veiligheidsregio Rijnmond, notes that the Academy Kit is used from the basic principles of firefighting onward and is especially effective for practicing process steps and promoting communication. Jan Holeček, firefighter at the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic, describes it as a way to make mistakes that in real life could be lethal, and learn from them safely.

See what’s inside the Academy training system

Ready to see how VR firefighter training fits into your crew’s program? Explore the complete Academy system, including hardware, the Scenario Creator, and After-Action Review, on the product page.

Discover Flashgroup Academy

FAQ

What is VR firefighter training?

VR firefighter training is the use of virtual reality simulation to practice firefighting tactics, reconnaissance, and incident response in realistic digital environments. Crews wear VR headsets and interact with dynamic fire, smoke, and hazard simulations where every action has meaningful consequences. It complements, rather than replaces, traditional live training.

Is VR firefighter training effective?

Research referenced in the immersive-learning whitepaper indicates VR training is completed up to 4× faster than classroom learning and 1.5× faster than e-learning, with learners up to 275% more confident to act (PwC enterprise study). In mass-casualty drills, immersive trainees demonstrated more accurate situational awareness while experiencing less mental strain than peers.

Which firefighting skills can be trained in VR?

With Flashgroup Academy, crews train master stream application, direct attack, and transitional attack, smoke-gas cooling, door-entry procedures, offensive and defensive strategies, anti-ventilation, exterior reconnaissance, and the use of thermal imaging cameras. It also covers modern hazards such as lithium-ion battery fires, electric vehicle fires, and energy storage system (ESS) failures.

How many firefighters can train at the same time?

Up to six firefighters can join a session using the six included headsets, and the system scales from simple exercises to complex multi-team operations, including multidisciplinary sessions with police and EMS.

Do we need a special facility for VR fire training?

No. Academy is a plug-and-train system in a portable case with a built-in computer and touchscreen. Any space can be turned into a training ground in a matter of minutes, at the station, the academy, or on-site.