Virtual Reality Brings the Heat to Fern Creek Fire Science Students

Technology platform gives students across JCPS more immersive, engaging experiences

December 8, 2021 – Samuel Henson had only minutes from the moment the alarm rang to when he arrived on the scene to develop a rescue plan. He could see smoke and flames coming from the home. So, the Fern Creek High School senior, clad in firefighter gear and breathing from an oxygen tank, made his way to the second floor bedroom where the fire had ignited. Spraying deliberately from the hose he carried, he extinguished the flames in less than a minute, surveying the room to ensure no embers remained.

picture of virtual reality device at fern creek high school
And he did it all from the safety of his classroom.

Over the past several years, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) has begun incorporating emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR) into its academic programs and pathways, including the Fire Science Academy at Fern Creek High School, to simulate real-life work experiences and engage students in active drills and instruction.

The result: more hands-on, practical and real-world learning to better prepare students for careers and life.

“Virtual Reality is one of the most exciting technologies I’ve worked with in my career,” said Jack Bosley, a virtual reality/ augmented reality leader for JCPS. “Virtual Reality aligns perfectly with the JCPS Future State vision because of its high level of engagement and its ability to immerse students into unique learning environments.”

Currently, seven JCPS high schools use VR in their Academies of Louisville pathways, Bosley said.  In addition to the fire science applications at Fern Creek and Fairdale high schools, the technology is utilized to interact and transform how people collaborate in the CTE Business Pathways at Seneca, PRP, Valley and Jeffersontown high schools.  And it’s being used to design and create 3-D models and characters to stimulate conversation and exploration at Doss High School.

MORE: Click here to watch Fern Creek High School students train with the Fern Creek Fire Department.

In addition, virtual reality is gaining traction in the district’s middle and elementary schools, introducing younger students to the engaging technology platform.

“It’s all about immersion and engagement,” Bosley said. “We can take them from outer space to study the solar system, to the depths of an underwater cavern. One of the most amazing things that VR does is give kids an opportunity to explore places and do things they may never have a chance to do.”

At Fern Creek, students like Joel Hurst use the VR headsets to experience what they would truly encounter as a firefighter entering a burning building.

“The VR system has given us a mental and physical feeling of how to mitigate fires. It has allowed us to get a feel for how to make decisive decisions, how to be quick on our feet, and it  instills confidence in how to solve issues that are handed our way,” Hurst said. “Because of fire science, my options for what I want to do after graduation has expanded.”

Mark LaMaster, a retired firefighter from Louisville Fire Department who teaches fire science at FCHS, said the VR technology allows students to get experience in what would otherwise be an extremely dangerous environment.

“We can allow them to see challenges that firefighters see,” LaMaster said. “They can make decisions, and make mistakes, in a far safer environment.”

“If you show someone a video of an interior fire, it’s boring because the visibility is so poor,” he added. “We can have traditional instruction as it’s used in the classroom, and they can get hands-on learning by trying out the equipment, but since we can’t do live fire training it’s pretty hard to replicate that experience. VR does a pretty good job of making it that much more realistic.”

The technology also allows students to experience some of the other hurdles that firefighters face that they might not otherwise associate with the role, like challenges in communication, visibility, and spatial orientation during a fire, LaMaster said.

“It’s really hard, when you can’t see your hand in front of your face, to keep your bearings,” he said. “I can describe all those things to kids, but they can actually experience that in the VR.”

Nathan Mulvey, fire chief for Fern Creek Fire Department and a 1996 graduate of FCHS, said he never could have imagined this career resource when he was a student. “To think that students now can do things to train in a safe manner, that we just don’t have the resources to provide to them, is unfathomable.”

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