Ryan Lorenz
CRC’s Fire Technology Program is demonstrating a new virtual reality headset to help train students at the Winn Center on Monday. The event allowed visitors to try on the headset and see the different situations the students would go through.
The Cosumnes River Fire Technology Program presented their newly acquired 20-point fact sheet at the Winn Center on Monday.
Interim Superintendent of Health and Human Services Kris Hubbard said he has partnered with American River College for a $200,000 regional project grant to acquire new training technology. The headset allows students in the program to experience how to handle bad situations for firefighters without putting them in danger.
“This will allow us to show them the way, talk to them first and then we can reinforce that by going into live lighting,” said Lighting Technology Coordinator Richard Haas.
Haas said before the VR keynote, the training consists of “hands-on” training and “video tutorials” and will remain part of the CRC’s lighting technology program.
“It’s the state and national curriculum that we’re required to follow, so they’re still going in the wrong direction,” Haas said. “This will give us the ability to show them first and explain to them.”
Cody Newcomer, a firefighter with the Cosumnes Community Services District Fire Department and training agent for Darley, helped set up the VR headquarters. Darley is a company that makes VR headsets.
“This kind of attracts them and really puts them somewhere else,” Newcomer said. “They get their attention and everything, so it’s really worth it.”
The newcomer said he uses a desktop app called “RiVR Link” to upload images from 2D or 360 cameras to an SD card. An SD card can be inserted into the headset and downloaded to the headset to be viewed in VR.
It allows the trainer to see where the students are in the situation and what the students are looking at, Newcomer said.
CRC President Ed Bush attended the event and saw the headphones and said he was impressed with the results.
“Any other tool or technology that allows them to be able to reach and be ready to do the job, I think is a resource well spent,” Bush said.
Hubbard can see the VR headset being used for other events.
“I can use these headphones and all I have to do is put in the right video for the right training and that’s the really good thing about this program,” Hubbard said. “We can change it for anything.”
Bush agreed with Hubbard and said he wanted to use VR to supplement the education that takes place in the classroom.
“I think that as long as we keep in mind that this is the work of our department, making the experience for our students, but not replacing what they get in the classroom, when I think we’re going to be good,” Bush said.
