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Complex Decision Research Group

School of
Psychological Science
La Trobe University
Bundoora, VIC, 3086
Australia

Tel +61 3 9479 3704


School of Psychological Science

Complex Decision Research Group
Networked Fire Chief - Overview / Availability

Development of the Networked Fire Chief program has been funded by the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Research Council for the purpose of conducting research into basic issues relating to command and control decision making. The program has now been extensively used for research, both in Australia and in Europe. It can, however, be equally well customised for use in specific training contexts (e.g. as a training tool for management personnel)


Overview / Availability Features
Screen Shots Minimum Requirements

Overview / Availability

The NFC “microworld” (in the USA “scaled world”) generating program can be used to develop a wide range of forest fire fighting scenarios that can be run over a number of networked computers.

Networked Fire Chief allows for detailed creation of landscapes of varying composition, flammability characteristics, fire spread rates, and asset protection priorities.
  Click Image to Enlarge  

Fire incidents can be initiated and developed according to various user-defined models of fire behaviour, taking into account simulated wind conditions and elevation (slope) data.

Participants are required to manage a variety of fire fighting appliances in order to best control the fire outbreaks on screen.

Flexibility is built into the program that allows the experiment to design a range of scenarios and to implement a range of team hierarchies and structures.

Networked Fire Chief as a Research Tool
     
  Computer supported microworlds provide an appropriate test bed for checking, under controlled laboratory conditions, hypotheses generated in field investigations.

The attraction of computer-generated scenarios over the real-world phenomena they purport to represent is that such scenarios are:		  
  • clearly specifiable
  • easily manipulated and controlled
  • economical
  • reproducible
 


Networked Fire Chief as a Training Tool
 
  Large-scale incidents pose two particularly serious problems for officers needing to develop and maintain their emergency management command and control skills;
  
  • It is not possible to create sufficiently realistic training exercises
  • Large-scale incidents occur relatively infrequently (fortunately), making it difficult to maintain those skills that have been acquired
  
 

Trainees can be placed at different computer stations and each given a different area of responsibility (e.g., a particular geographic sector), different roles (resource monitoring, protection of valued landscape assets), and different levels of command (e.g., incident controller, sector controller, strike team leader).


Program Status and Availability
The program and associated documentation are being updated and tested. They are, however, at a sufficient stage of completion for us to make them available (free of charge) to any organisation wishing to explore the program’s effectiveness for their own research and/or training purposes. The research team will provide initial advice to assist in this, and negotiate an ongoing arrangement should this prove mutually beneficial. Enquiries about obtaining a copy of Networked Fire Chief should be mailed to Dr Mary Omodei.  


Content Approved by: Head of School
Page developed by: Glenn Elliott
Page maintained by: Matthew Walshe
Last Updated: 26 August, 2003

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