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Permalink Reply by firefighter810 on October 1, 2007 at 12:38am

we use them all the time so you can practice your IC skilz and the operational portion of fires mostly the vegitation part. sure you dont get the "real" experience but it helps tons!! whats your opinion on them

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Permalink Reply by Firegal77 on October 1, 2007 at 9:37am

I still remember the first time that i used a sand table..... The instructor had set up a scenario, and asked for a volunteer, everyone kinda stepped back, and i was raising my hand. Immediately i thought they must have known more than i did..LOL The instructor told me that i was now IC of the fire, and I was to direct the crews that were on the field as he played out the scenario. I thought...OK. Well, he started moving the fire lines, and reporting injuries, and then the helicopters started flying in, and i had more resources showing up.....AHHHHH! It was a real eye opener, I was not prepared to deal with all of those things at once, and it really made me consider so much. GREAT TRAINING! I would recommend it to any one. It gives you a good feel for situations from a birds eye view. If for no other reason, it helped me appreciate what is happening in the command post during the "big" operations, and taught me that even though we are operating on someone elses orders, if the situation changes, then you have to be dilligent at reporting and watching out for yourself, cuz they might not be looking your direction when you need them to. Plus, it helps you to think faster about your situation. I think it is great to be put in a simulated situation so that when it happens to you in real life you don't panic like i did when i was put there in front of the class. Hopefully some of those skills will carry over into the field, and you will be able to logically work it out because those connection have already been made in your brain.

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