Hundreds of firefighters from across the country are meeting in Reno this week, sharing ideas and getting the latest high-tech training around for the upcoming fire season. And on Thursday afternoon they took a field trip to the Desert Research Institute for a trip inside fire. Seriously, they had a chance to virtually walk through fire and see how it behaves and even better, how to control it.
DRI's 3D computer program is like a huge elevator and scientists can project anything into it from the surface of the moon to a forest fire.
"I'm going to start a fire over on that ridge and as the smoke begins to rise I can add winds and see how it reacts," said the operator giving the tour of the program this afternoon.
"I can see how this has so many applications in the fire world," said Chris Dicus from San Luis Obispo, California. " You can use it to study the terrain before a fire and if there is a fire you can use it to manage the equipment and even after a fire for the ecology of the area."
Jim Miguel from Lassen, California agreed.
"This was so much more than I expected," Miguel said. "The V-fire aspect gives you a great way to plan to get resources where they need to be and to protect firefighters in the field. It's great for managers who have to make the decisions."
Meantime, the real fire season is just around the corner nationwide. Â
