Montgomery County firefighters spent Wednesday toying with pipe cleaners, miniature cars and wire springs around a model village the size of three ping pong tables. But they were hard at work, according to Assistant Chief Michael Clemens.

County fire and rescue personnel hosted an interactive training session for an estimated 250 first responders from around the nation at a new virtual reality simulation training center that took six months and $150,000 to create at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Academy in Rockville.

“There’s nothing like this east of the Mississippi,” Clemens said.

One room contains video monitors, headsets and cubicle walls so first responders can watch the development of a fire and communicate with each other as if they were on the scene of the real thing. Make a wrong move and the flames grow; do the right thing and you’ll save the building.

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“In here, I can put them in a risk situation without dangerous consequences,” Clemens said. “If we work out the issues here, we’re not gonna have them out there.”

Another room contains a command vehicle parked in front of a video wall so firefighters can practice directing an appropriate rescue for the scene depicted on the monitor.

The final room with the model village set has makeshift fires, tornados, train wrecks and bombed buildings that can be placed around the tiny plastic town. Clemens said the goal is to create distinct situations so first responders can evaluate what equipment should be brought to the scene and how best to approach the disaster.

“This is better than your typical training,” said Corey Irelan, a firefighter from the Pattonville Fire District, near St. Louis “Usually you’re all standing around in the same room, looking at each other. Here you can’t see the other people in the command center but you do see a ‘fire’

change, that’s how it is in the real world.”

kmiller@dcexaminer.com