Excerpts from the ChicagoSunTimes.com:
The Chicago Fire Department is swapping out coloring books for virtual reality headsets as its preferred educational tool to instill fire safety basics in the minds of elementary and middle schoolers.
Fire Commissioner Richard Ford unveiled the technology Tuesday during a demonstration at St. Sabina Academy with a group of 5th and 6th graders who strapped on the headsets to find themselves getting out of bed to the sound of a beeping smoke detector. “It is the first of its kind,” Ford said proudly during a news conference at the Auburn Gresham neighborhood school. “This innovative program brings fire safety training into the 21st century.”
The program was developed by the Chicago Fire Department Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to assisting the mission of Chicago firefighters. The roughly $1 million program includes 90 headsets. The Foundation plans to license the program so it can be swiftly shared with other municipalities.
Dubbed “The Fire Escape,” the 15-minute immersive experience was designed for kids from 4th through 8th grades and features a fire in a typical Chicago two-flat. Students, faced with several options to escape, used a handheld device pick what to do next.
