SBM Command Training Center

Command Training Center Flyer

The Spring Lake Park/Blaine/Mounds View Fire Department has developed their incident command training around the Incident Command System developed by Alan Brunicini.

1. Blue Card On-Line Training: We suggest that everyone take the Blue Card Command® training on- line. You can review this program at www.bluecardcommand.com. The cost of this on-line training is $385.00 per person.

1. Blue Card Course Work and Certification: The follow-up to Blue Card Hazard Zone Command Training is a three day live session at the SBM Command Training Center. This training session will bring the entire program together and will give you the real life experience you need to effectively take command of the emergency, standardize incident operations, and bring it to a successful conclusion. The cost of this training is $460.00 per person. Certification from the Minnesota Fire Service Certification Board/IFSAC is included. There will be up to eight students in each class and the fee includes a continental breakfast and lunch each day.

1. CommandSim®: The CommandSim® program at SBM Fire is designed to develop and/or maintain your incident management skills. These programs are $60.00 per hour  per person and are customized to your department’s specific needs. Minimum 4 / Maximum 6 participants.

1. Promotional Exams: We offer promotional exam programs for your officers. We will run the scenarios and your own officers do the evaluations and scoring or we can provide evaluators if you would like. This is a proven effective way to evaluate your officer candidates.

All of the above programs can be adjusted to your schedule. We can also do day or evening CommandSim®, Blue Card classes, promotional tests and all programs can be adjusted to your system. You can provide a dispatcher so that addresses, unit numbers, and systems are authentic and familiar to your candidates.

CommandSim

A state of the art facility that can train firefighters and company officers to fight
large or small incidents without ever putting on bunker gear!

Commanders and firefighters deal with extremely high pressure situations every day. Their job is to manage the entire emergency situation and the departments overall response to a fire, but on-the-job training can be difficult and dangerous. Fires and emergencies are unpredictable, so personnel need to learn specific skills that can help them anticipate and plan for what might arise on any given day.

The Command Simulator using a SMART Board interactive whiteboard does just that. It is an effective hands on training simulator, training without putting any lives at risk. At the beginning of a simulation the trainer stands alone in the simulator room listening to department radio transmissions. Their view of the incident is projected on a SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Using Command Sim®
Software, they see a 3-D world that they can navigate by touching the screen. We want firefighters to think and feel like they’re really on an emergency scene and the only way to get that kind of realism is with the interactive whiteboard.

By using the large interactive screen during a simulation it is easier for users to
feel they are in an emergency and behave like it’s the real thing, immersing them into that role. That wouldn’t happen if every 30 seconds they had to take their
eyes away from the screen to click a mouse.

As with the Drive Simulator, the Command Simulator can be programmed for many different scenarios teaching particular skills and dealing with specific
problems. These scenarios can include missing fire crews, a broken down fire engine or even multiple victims. Participants can practice and improve their
response skills with each scenario in a setting that feels real, but puts no one in
danger

DriveSim

Gaining experience: When a driver sits down, a 42-inch monitor dominates his or her primary field of vision. Two additional monitors stretch at an angle on either side, ensuring that the simulation occupies even the widest range of peripheral vision.

Advantage: Increased awareness of surroundings. When the simulation begins, the monitors show just what a driver would see through the windshield and front side
windows while mirrors display activity behind the vehicle. Once the simulated vehicle is moving, the displays show scenery sliding by, traffic moving and any weather conditions the training officer ordered.

Advantage: Reality in a virtual world. The operator has an evaluation option; not only does the simulator show the virtual path and dashboard displays, but it also displays a video of the driver behind the wheel.

Advantage: The evaluation helps drivers spot their errors. The simulator helps drivers get accustomed to the sensory overload an emergency call can bring. Blaring sirens, loud horns, radio and engine noise all vie for attention while
the driver has to concentrate on traffic and navigation. Initial drives develop skills such as managing the space around the vehicle. More advanced training sends the
driver into specific scenarios, such as responding to a vehicle fire in the middle of a city.

Advantage: Learning to manage distractions. Nearly every aspect of the simulator is customizable. Drivers can practice in urban, rural or freeway environments, facing wind, rain, snow, ice, fog, or sun which enhances the training. Experiencing these conditions teach valuable skills and responses to those scenarios.

Advantage: Real world hazards on the road. Public safety drivers get much of their vehicle training behind a real steering wheel, and while simulator miles are not the same as real driving experience, what the simulator offers is safety. If public safety personnel crash, there’s no damage to repair and no injuries. It allows a driver to repeat an exact scenario over and over until he or she understands the problem areas. It gives them more of an awareness of what’s going to happen, or what could happen.

Advantage: Safety, safety, safety Even though it’s not real, the skills learned
in the simulator do transfer to real driving.
And....... it’s fun!