Hazard-zone incident command training and certification systems

Abstract

Systems designed to train and certify persons to act as at least one responsible person(s) for decision making and management operations as part of an emergency response at incidents that contain at least one hazard zone; such hazard zone defined as any work area which contains a hazard that can injure or kill, for example, burning structures, hazardous material incidents, roadways with active traffic, natural disaster sites, and/or other emergency response scenes.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computer system, relating to training at least one applicant in fire-incident management skills in at least one client-server architecture, comprising:
 a) at least one virtual-immersion computer interface structured and arranged to provide virtual immersion to the at least one applicant in at least one fire-incident management situation,
 wherein said virtual immersion trains the at least one applicant in a plurality of fire incident management skills corresponding to functions performed in said at least one fire-incident management situation, 
   b) at least one management-mentor computer interface structured and arranged to provide management mentoring to the at least one applicant while in such at least one fire-incident management situation to develop at least one fire-incident management skill;   c) at least one sequential skill-training-navigator computer processor structured and arranged to regulate navigation by said at least one applicant of a skill-training sequence of a plurality of at least one skill-training segments, wherein said sequential skill-training-navigator computer enforces said skill-training sequence of a plurality of at least one skill-training segments to develop a plurality of said fire-incident management skills wherein the enforcing comprises:
 requiring each fire-incident management skill-training segment to be viewed in its entirety and any questions answered with responses before said at least one applicant may advance in said skill-training sequence; 
 obtaining, from at least one score-calculator computer processor structured and arranged to calculate at least one score, at least one correct percentage of said responses; 
 creating a record indicating completion of said fire incident management skill-training sequence for any said at least one applicant having a score satisfying a predetermined minimum following a predetermined maximum number of attempts; 
 requiring any said at least one applicant having said score failing to satisfy said predetermined minimum following said predetermined maximum number of attempts to repeat said fire-incident management skill-training sequence; 
   d) wherein said at least one virtual-immersion computer interface comprises at least one virtual-immersion computer processor structured and arranged to generate such at least one fire-incident management situation in said at least one virtual-immersion computer interface,
 wherein said situation includes at least one radio transmission simulation and at least one image representing the fire incident; 
   e) wherein said at least one management-mentor computer interface comprises at least one management-mentor computer processor structured and arranged to generate mentoring in said at least one management-mentor computer interface,
 wherein the mentoring comprises at least one video in which a speaker coaches the applicant; and 
   f) wherein said computer system provides training to the at least one applicant in such at least one fire-incident management skill using the at least one client-server architecture.   
     
     
         2 . The computer system according to  claim 1  further comprising at least one sequential situation-navigator computer interface structured and arranged to provide at least one sequential situation-navigation of at least one situation sequence of a plurality of such at least one fire-incident management situations to develop such at least one fire-incident management skill. 
     
     
         3 . The computer system according to  claim 2  further comprising at least one situation-navigator regulator computer processor structured and arranged to regulate navigation by the at least one applicant of such at least one sequential situation-navigation of such plurality of such at least one fire-incident management situations;
 wherein said sequential situation-navigator regulator enforces said situation sequence of a plurality of at least one fire-incident management situations to develop a plurality of said fire-incident management skills wherein the enforcing comprises:
 requiring each fire-incident management situation to be viewed in its entirety and any questions answered with responses before said at least one applicant may advance in said situation sequence; 
 obtaining, from the least one score-calculator computer processor structured and arranged to calculate at least one score, at least one correct percentage of said responses; 
 creating a record indicating completion of said fire incident management situations for any said at least one applicant having a score satisfying a predetermined minimum following a predetermined maximum number of attempts; 
 
 requiring any said at least one applicant having said score failing to satisfy said predetermined minimum following said predetermined maximum number of attempts to repeat said at least one situation sequence. 
 
     
     
         4 - 6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The computer system according to  claim 1  wherein such at least one skill-training sequence provides training in at least three of such at least one fire-incident management skills selected from the following:
 c) assumption of command; 
 d) situation evaluation; 
 e) communication; 
 f) deployment management; 
 g) incident action plan development; 
 h) incident organization; 
 i) incident action plan review; 
 j) termination of command. 
 
     
     
         8 . The computer system according to  claim 7  further comprising at least one skill-navigation regulator computer processor structured and arranged to regulate navigation by the at least one applicant in such at least one sequential skill-navigation of such plurality of such at least three skill training segments. 
     
     
         9 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . The computer system according to  claim 1  further comprising at least one quiz-presenter computer interface structured and arranged to present at least one quiz to the at least one applicant at the end of such at least one skill training segment. 
     
     
         19 . The computer system according to  claim 18  wherein said at least one quiz-presenter computer interface comprises at least one quiz-feedback-generator computer processor structured and arranged to generate at least one quiz-correction feedback on at least one quiz response submitted by the at least one applicant. 
     
     
         20 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . The computer system according to  claim 1  further comprising:
 a) at least one completion-record storer computer processor structured and arranged to store at least one record indicating completion by the at least one applicant of all of such at least one skill-training segments; and 
 b) at least one completion-record retriever computer interface structured and arranged to provide retrieval of such at least one record indicating completion of all of such at least one skill-training segments by the at least one applicant by at least one certification simulation lab provider. 
 
     
     
         25 . The computer system according to  claim 1  wherein said at least one virtual-immersion computer processor comprises at least one media-streamer computer processor structured and arranged to stream media over the at least one client-server architecture, wherein said media comprises at least one of: at least one simulation-video stream and at least one audio stream comprising at least one radio-transmission-simulation audio stream. 
     
     
         26 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . The computer system according to  claim 1  wherein said computer system provides improved training preceding real-world fire-incident decision-making competency evaluation. 
     
     
         32 . A computer-implemented method, relating to training at least one applicant in fire-incident management skills in at least one client-server architecture, comprising the steps of:
 c) providing virtual-immersion to the at least one applicant in at least one fire-incident management situation wherein said virtual immersion trains the at least one applicant in a plurality of fire incident management skills corresponding to functions performed in said at least one fire-incident management situation;   d) providing management mentoring to the at least one applicant while in such at least one fire-incident management situation to develop at least one fire-incident management skill; and   c) providing regulation of sequential skill-training navigation by said at least one applicant of a skill-training sequence of a plurality of at least one skill-training segments, wherein said regulation enforces said skill-training sequence of a plurality of at least one skill-training segments to develop a plurality of said fire-incident management skills wherein the enforcing comprises:
 requiring each fire-incident management skill-training segment to be viewed in its entirety and any questions answered with responses before said at least one applicant may advance in said skill-training sequence; 
 obtaining at least one correct percentage of said responses; 
 creating a record indicating completion of said fire incident management skill-training sequence for any said at least one applicant having a score satisfying a predetermined minimum following a predetermined maximum number of attempts; 
 requiring any said at least one applicant having said score failing to satisfy said predetermined minimum following said predetermined maximum number of attempts to repeat said fire-incident management skill-training sequence; 
   e) wherein such step of providing virtual immersion comprises the step of computer-generating such at least one fire-incident management situation in at least one virtual-immersion computer interface wherein said situation includes at least one radio transmission simulation and at least one image representing the fire incident;   f) wherein such step of providing management mentoring comprises the step of computer-generating mentoring in at least one management-mentor computer interface wherein the mentoring comprises at least one video in which a speaker coaches the applicant;   g) wherein such step of providing virtual immersion and such step of providing management mentoring provides training to the at least one applicant in such at least one fire-incident management skill using the at least one client-server architecture.   
     
     
         33 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 32  further comprising the step of providing sequential situation-navigation of a plurality of such at least one fire-incident management situations to develop such at least one fire-incident management skill, wherein the regulating comprises:
 requiring each fire-incident management situation to be viewed in its entirety and any questions answered with responses before said at least one applicant may advance in said situation sequence; 
 obtaining, from the least one score-calculator computer processor structured and arranged to calculate at least one score, at least one correct percentage of said responses; 
 creating a record indicating completion of said fire-incident management situations for any said at least one applicant having a score satisfying a predetermined minimum following a predetermined maximum number of attempts; 
 requiring any said at least one applicant having said score failing to satisfy said predetermined minimum following said predetermined maximum number of attempts to repeat situation sequence. 
 
     
     
         34 - 36 . (canceled) 
     
     
         37 . The computer-implemented method according to claim  36  further comprising the step of storing progress of the at least one applicant within each such at least one skill-training segment to permit non-continuous training. 
     
     
         38 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 32  further comprising the step of providing at least one question to the at least one applicant related to such at least one fire-incident management skill. 
     
     
         39 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 38  wherein such step of providing at least one question further comprises the step of providing at least one correction feedback on at least one response submitted by the at least one applicant related to such at least one question. 
     
     
         40 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 38  wherein such step of providing management mentoring further comprises the step of providing question mentoring to the at least one applicant relating to such at least one question. 
     
     
         41 - 42 . (canceled) 
     
     
         43 . The computer-implemented method according to claim  42  further comprising the steps of:
 h) storing at least one record indicating completion by the at least one applicant of all of such at least one skill training segments; and 
 i) retrieving such at least one record indicating completion status of all of such at least one skill training segments by the at least one applicant, upon request by at least one certification simulation lab provider. 
 
     
     
         44 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 32  wherein said computer-implemented method provides improved training preceding real-world fire-incident decision-making competency evaluation. 
     
     
         45 . (canceled) 
     
     
         46 . A computer system, relating to training an applicant in hazard zone management skills, comprising:
 a client-server architecture whereby the computer system may display information to an applicant and may receive responses from the applicant;   a virtual-immersion computer interface comprising a virtual-immersion processor structured to generate a hazard zone management situation comprising a skill-training sequence of a plurality of skill-training segments whereby virtual immersion in the hazard zone management situation is provided to the applicant wherein the virtual immersion trains the applicant to serve in a role of a hazard zone Incident Commander; and   a management-mentor computer interface comprising a management-mentor computer processor to present management mentoring to the applicant while in the hazard zone management situation to develop a hazard zone management skill.   
     
     
         47 . The computer system according to  claim 46 , further comprising:
 a sequential skill-training-navigator regulator structured to regulate navigation by the applicant of the skill-training sequence,   wherein the regulating comprises:
 requiring each of the plurality of skill-training segments to be viewed in its entirety and any questions answered with responses before the applicant may advance in the skill-training sequence, and 
 requiring the applicant to repeat the skill-training sequence in response to failing to provide a predetermined minimum number of the responses that are correct. 
   
     
     
         48 . A Incident Commander hazard zone training system comprising:
 a media server structured to provide electronic certification training comprising a plurality of training modules each comprising educational information related to skills for developing a hazard zone incident action plan;   a testing server structured to require a user to complete at least one quiz corresponding to each training module;   a content regulation server structured to unlock a second training module of the plurality of training modules in response to a user viewing and completing a first training module of the plurality of training modules; and   a quiz-computer interface comprising a quiz-feedback processor structured to provide at least one quiz-correction feedback on the quiz.