To respond and react to emergencies accordingly, in a timely and a professional manner, firefighters need to be well trained.
This helps them to catch up with the increased tactical, strategic, and technical demands of modern firefighting.
Technological developments seem promising to immerse firefighters in more realistic training environments, by using modern training technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and reusable training content in Learning Management Systems (LMS). There are presented hypotheses and good examples where immersive technologies saves time and costs for preparation of the training ground, provides flexibility to the trainer, reduces danger during the training and it gives the possibility to standardise and monitor trainees progress.
SAFAR builds on previous first-hand experiences of firefighter training organisation with AR digital twins and 360° camera for classroom and live training. It will set up an immersive Extended Reality (XR) training foreground to respond to the emerging need of rather low threshold modern media applications, that are at the same time technical and pedagogically versatile in their application, to ensure a wider adoption among trainer/teachers of the involved firefighter training organisations. This will support the process of digital transformation in the classroom and live-training of firefighters and crisis managers as well as in the organisation as a whole.

The SAFAR project aims to empower firefighting and crisis management trainers and their foreground with innovative, flexible and easy to use training solutions using XR technology. Modernised VET training organisation have needed tools to ensure quality of education and train its learners in a safe environment. Therefore, SAFAR raised these objectives:
– To enrich firefighters training ground with immersive technologies solutions
– To prepare firefighting and crisis management trainers for future training skills
– To reduce risks and costs of firefighters’ and crisis managers trainings
– To increase quality of training programmes of situational awareness

Identified objectives closely correlates to the identified priorities to support empowering trainers in digital age and enrich their training environment with innovation and digitalisation.

In order to achieve it the SAFAR project will take these actions:
– Creation of a roadmap of most impactful immersive technologies’ solutions for training situation awareness
– Development of innovative and tailor-made, XR enriched, teaching and learning scenarios
– Training of pedagogically sound and digitally transformed firefighters and crisis managers trainers – digital transformation coaches
– Organisation of local/international/scientific actions reaching firefighting and crisis management trainers to make a positive impact

In the end the SAFAR project is expected to produce the following significant results:
– SAFAR training qualification model
– Digital transformation roadmap
– Training guidebook
– Database of learning scenarios enriched with XR technologies
– Best practice guide
– Scientific articles

The project will result in empowering firefighting organsiations training grounds with XR technology that will make positive impact to trainers skill development, reducing risks and costs for training.

One of the project’s key results will consist in ensuring that all involved stakeholders have easy and long-term access to the resources. For this reason, all project outputs will be designed as digital with a view to be available for usage in other contexts and for adaptation to other targets.