How Simulation Training Is Transforming Fire Safety
Two experts explain how digital fire training tools deliver realism, repeatability, and safety without disrupting operations—helping safety professionals build competence and confidence across diverse workplaces.
- By David Kopf
- Oct 15, 2025
When it comes to workplace fire safety, safety professionals face a familiar dilemma: how to prepare employees for emergencies without introducing new hazards or logistical headaches. Live burns can be costly, messy, and sometimes prohibited by environmental restrictions. Yet classroom lectures alone rarely leave workers confident when seconds matter.
That’s where digital fire training solutions come in. In a recent OH&S webinar, “Safer Workplaces Begin with Digital Fire,” LION Safety Solutions experts Khalil Searcy, Account Manager, and David Sardynski, Director of Sales, shared how simulation technology is changing the way organizations approach fire safety.
“We want it to be as close to the real thing as possible,” Sardynski says. “But how to train in a clean, safe, and repeatable manner. You want to build that muscle memory. You want to teach your employees or your trainees how to react in an emergency situation that you hope never happens.”
Training Where Fires Might Happen
One of the biggest advantages of digital fire tools is the ability to train in the very places where employees work. Instead of traveling to a training center or heading to a parking lot, companies can bring scenarios directly onto the facility floor.
“It’s one thing to go out into a parking lot and say there’s a burning pan,” Searcy says. “But imagine being able to have a digital panel in a spot where maybe fires would more so frequently occur. Imagine being able to train in that scenario, immersing yourself in that panic a little bit, and recognizing what to do in that situation.”
For safety managers, this approach not only builds familiarity with extinguishers and alarms but also reinforces site-specific emergency exits and response procedures.
Why Go Digital?
Traditional fire training often involves lighting fuel, producing smoke, and expending costly extinguishers. By contrast, digital systems use sensors, LED flames, or even virtual reality headsets to create immersive simulations.
Searcy points out the environmental and operational benefits: “Going out into a parking lot, filling up a pan with diesel or kerosene and burning that… it’s bad for the environment. That chem flies around anywhere and it’s very damaging. To bring in the digital aspect of it, not only be able to fight a Class A fire, but your Class B and Class C fires as well, and get a hands-on feel of the few different extinguisher options we offer—I think that right there is second to none.”
Digital systems also eliminate downtime. As Sardynski explains, “It’s about being able to train more frequently in smaller groups and with less disruption to your facility. You’re not just packing everyone into a classroom. You’re able to have more one-on-one time and engagement with each person.”
Realism Without Risk
Skeptics sometimes wonder whether digital simulations feel authentic enough. LION’s experts emphasized that their systems are designed to mimic how real fires behave, including rekindling if not extinguished properly. This helps to ensure they employ the PASS technique, the standard method taught for using a fire extinguisher effectively:
- Pull – Pull the pin to unlock the extinguisher.
- Aim – Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire.
- Squeeze – Squeeze the handle to discharge the extinguishing agent.
- Sweep – Sweep the nozzle from side to side across the base of the fire until it’s out.
“With the Bullseye system, if you’re not using that PASS technique, those fires will rekindle, just as they would in real life,” Searcy explains. “It’s not a toy. It allows you to have that repetition we’ve been talking about. If you turn your back on that fire, that thing is going to rekindle back up.”
Sound effects, visual cues, and even electrical cutoff boxes add layers of realism. The goal, according to Sardynski, is to “simulate that stressful environment safely, and then repeat that. If maybe someone did something wrong or he panicked, that’s okay. Let’s talk through what you did. Let’s reset and try it again.”
Supplementing, Not Replacing, Live Fire
Both speakers made clear that digital fire training isn’t meant to replace every scenario. For industries or fire departments that require live burns, digital tools act as a supplement, broadening access and increasing repetition without the logistical burdens.
Sardynski explains, “We’re trying to provide folks with the ability to train more often and in a repeatable fashion. If the client has something they need to do, particularly for live fire, it’s not meant to replace that. This is meant to supplement that and get them more flexibility.”
Digital tools also support compliance. “As far as meeting compliance, yes, it will allow you to do that because you do have to do some type of training annually,” Searcy notes.
Overcoming Misconceptions and Building Buy-In
Some of the most common objections stem from outdated perceptions. Many workers and even managers still imagine fire extinguisher training as messy, expensive, or disruptive.
“It’s a different world now,” Sardynski says. “There’s so many different options that are available… it’s more about just finding what fits your needs versus barriers to entry.”
For trainees, the biggest “aha moments” are often surprisingly simple. “Most people have never actually had to pull and break the tamper seal on a fire extinguisher,” Sardynski notes. “Just doing that reinforces the case of what we do every day—we’d rather you learn that now when you’re not faced with a real fire in front of you.”
Searcy adds, “The aha moment is just realizing how simple and how easy it is to use a fire extinguisher. Once they go through it, they realize, wow, this really isn’t that difficult.”
Scaling Across Workforces
Another benefit is scalability. Whether training a handful of office workers or hundreds of employees in a distribution center, digital systems can be adjusted for difficulty and reused endlessly.
“You’re just pushing a button to reset it from one person to the next,” Sardynski explains. “We have clients training 200 to 500 people in a day, just using one or two rechargeable extinguishers.”
This flexibility also makes training accessible for smaller organizations with tight budgets. “Every single system that LION has in this space is designed exactly for that,” Sardynski says. “You wanna do just your basic extinguisher training? We can handle that. You wanna go through the entire emergency response procedure? We can do that too.”
Continued Growth
Fire risks are evolving, and so are training technologies. Both experts say their company is continuing to expand its library of VR scenarios and enhance digital systems with new capabilities. For safety managers, the message is clear: digital fire training offers an adaptable, compliant, and engaging way to prepare teams for emergencies.
As Sardynski concludes, success starts with the right questions. “It’s really about just asking what you’re looking to accomplish or what challenges you might have now that you’re looking to try to mitigate. That can help drive the conversation around what fits best as far as a solution.”
For organizations seeking to build readiness without disruption, digital fire tools might be the spark that ignites safer workplaces.
This article originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.