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Kentucky Fire Commission Moves to Reduce the Number of Vehicle Accidents With Mobile Driver Training Simulators

Ann Arbor, Michigan and Versailles, Kentucky – The Kentucky Fire Commission, which provides training and education services for firefighters throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky, today announced that it has expanded and upgraded its firefighter driver training program by the addition of mobile driver training simulators from FAAC Incorporated of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“Getting to or from the fire is one of the most dangerous aspects to being a firefighter,” said Ronnie Day, Executive Director for the Kentucky Fire Commission. “More people are injured or killed in driving accidents involving fire trucks than fighting fires. It only makes sense that we do everything we can to reduce those driving accidents.”

The Commission, through its Fire Rescue Training, has purchased three driver training simulators from FAAC Incorporated of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Two of the simulators are designed specifically to train drivers for fire trucks including pumpers, tenders (which carry water to the scene of a fire), engines and other large fire suppression vehicles. The third simulator is designed to train drivers for personal off-road vehicles including EMS ambulances and other smaller emergency response vehicles. All three simulators are housed in a trailer so that training can be delivered to every fire department and community in the Commonwealth.

Kentucky Fire Commission Fire Rescue Training has agreed to work with FAAC Incorporated to integrate their well established driver training curriculum with FAAC Incorporated’s driving simulators to create a program which meets and exceeds the driver training requirements established by the National Fire Protection Association’s apparatus driving standard NFPA 1002. The Commission and FAAC Incorporated will make that curriculum available to other fire departments using FAAC Incorporated’s simulators.

“We are thrilled to have the Kentucky Fire Commission and Fire Rescue Training as our newest customer,” said Kurt Flosky, Executive Vice President for FAAC Incorporated. “The Kentucky Fire Commission has long been viewed as a leader in the industry. We believe our simulators will assist the Kentucky Fire Commission continue and expand its leadership position. As important, by working with the Kentucky Fire Commission to integrate our simulators with their excellent driving training curriculum, we will develop lessons and tools which will benefit everyone in our expanding community of customers in fire departments throughout the nation.”

Two of the simulators will feature FAAC Incorporated’s custom three degree-of-freedom motion system. “This 3-DOF motion ability allows our students to not only see the virtual world in which they are driving but also feel the effect of the vehicle under different driving conditions including rough and hilly terrain—even the surging effect of water in tank trucks,” said Day. “The FAAC virtual world provides a good representation of the varied conditions we face here in Kentucky. We are confident that this improvement in our driver training program will save lives.”

About FAAC, Incorporated

For more than 30 years FAAC has provided systems engineering and software products to the United States government and private industry. FAAC’s Fire/EMS driver trainer simulators are fully interactive systems featuring state-of-the-art simulation technology that enables training in situation awareness, risk analysis, decision-making, emergency reaction and avoidance procedures, and conscientious equipment operation. For more information, please visit www.faac.com.

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