Firefighters face many high-risk situations, from battling fires to managing hazardous materials and medical emergencies. The inherent dangers of these scenarios are reflected in the statistics from the U.S. Fire Administration, which reported 141 on-duty firefighter fatalities in 2021. Recognizing the critical need for enhanced safety, the…

The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to understand the perceptions of fire service employees about generational conflict within fire service organizations across the United States. The findings of the study could allow fire service organization leaders to develop better conflict resolution practices related to generational…

Little research has examined burn injury in the pediatric population with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 15,844 participants aged <18 years with ASD and 130,860 participants without ASD. Our results revealed that the hazard ratios differed across three age…

With the rise of nature-based early childhood education (NBECE) and emphasis on the importance of risky play, it is prudent to investigate a different approach to fire safety, through experimenting with fire and following necessary safety precautions within NBECE and other settings. This study explored fire as a loose part, safety considerations,…

Wildfires pose significant environmental threats in Australia, impacting ecosystems, human lives, and property. This review article provides a comprehensive analysis of various empirical and dynamic wildfire simulators alongside machine learning (ML) techniques employed for wildfire prediction in Australia. The study examines the effectiveness of…

In recent years, first responders have faced increasing challenges in their operations, highlighting a growing need for specialized and comprehensive training. In particular, the firefighting incident commanders (ICs) are playing a pivotal role, providing directions to field operators and making critical decisions in emergency situations. Over…

Access to dangerous goods training for firefighters in remote areas is limited for financial and logistical reasons. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising solution for this challenge as it is cost-effective, safe, and allows to simulate realistic scenarios that would be dangerous or difficult to implement in the real world. However, rigorous…

ResilienceMT is a NOAA-funded education effort to cultivate Montana communities' resilience to drought, wildfire and smoke, extreme heat, and flooding. Led by the University of Montana, the project partners include several Montana rural and tribal communities as well as Montana State University. With current and predicted impacts of the changing…

Background: Video-based training has been widely adopted by private organizations and public authorities to educate occupants on various types of building emergencies. However, the effectiveness of video-based training for preparing occupants for building emergencies has not been rigorously studied nor has the impact of emergency type been…

Purpose: The reemergence of immersive virtual technology (IVR) provides both opportunities and challenges for workplace learning (WPL). The purpose of this study is to explore and develop knowledge about how gamification influences the WPL experience by addressing two research questions: "RQ1." What characterizes a gamified immersive…

This study employs the Experiential Learning Theory framework to investigate students' use of a wildfire simulation. We analyzed log files automatically generated by middle and high school students (n = 1515) as they used a wildfire simulation and answered associated prompts in three simulation-based tasks. We first analyzed students' log files to…

In the postgraduate fire safety engineering programme, students come from diverse educational backgrounds, leading to varying levels of familiarity with the fundamental principles essential for understanding fire engineering concepts. As a result, a significant amount of new knowledge must be delivered, which often increases the cognitive load on…

Numerous fires during demonstrations in secondary schools, museums, and science centers have occurred while using flammable liquids. This calls to light the need to educate undergraduate students and educators in the safe handling and use of these flammable chemicals. Understanding the benefits and risks of flammable liquids should be an essential…

Leadership roles and responsibilities in a volunteer fire department are no different from those of a full-time, paid, career department. Yet volunteer fire officers and fire chiefs have the added challenge of leading unpaid volunteers in an organization that typically has few resources to invest in formal leadership development. In the absence of…

The combination of large volumes of woody fuel needing disposal after forestry activities and evolving regulatory restrictions makes traditional methods of pile burning increasingly difficult. Alternatively, using small kilns to pyrolyze these fuels on-site yields a potentially valuable product: biochar. In this article, we describe an educational…