Flaim Trainer to enhance training safety

The Royal Australian Navy is working with a team of engineers led by fire fighting experts at Deakin University to develop next generation simulation tools to train officers and sailors in emergency fire processes.

The Flaim Trainer is a multi-component system that brings realism to damage control exercises and enables personnel to conduct training in scenarios that would have been impossible in the past. 

The Flaim’s head-mounted display allows the wearer to view fire, smoke and the water stream from the hose overlaid across their field of view. A hose, pressurised with air and attached to an inertia reel, gives the wearer the realistic experience of dragging a charged hose with jet reaction forces and other hose controls.

Vests worn with fire-fighting clothing enables the wearer to feel the fire, the increase and decrease in temperature moving around the body as the wearer changes position relative to the heat source.

The Flaim trainer allows instructors to pick a location in a ship, develop or select a pre-defined scenario - such as a fire in a helicopter on deck - with a predefined incident and fire types, identify exactly where the fire is located, adjust the intensity and duration of the scenario and perform a detailed post event analysis.

The system will also enable personnel to develop their skills without attending courses at the traditional fire grounds, streamlining training while maintaining the knowledge and experience they need as part of a ship's company.