DUNNVILLE—On Thursday, October 26, 2023 the Calvinist Cadet Corps at the Dunnville Christian Reformed Church had a very special virtual reality presentation by Acting Captain Sheldon Smith of the Milton Fire Department.
Before the cadets had a chance to experience the virtual reality fire demonstration, Capt. Smith explained the different levels in the development of a fire using a virtual flashover room.
Smith explained, “The flashover room was designed to train with firefighters because you can’t stay in a room when it flashes because it will kill you even in full gear. It will melt your gear off, and it will kill you instantly.”
The elements of a flashover fire begin with ‘Thermal Layering’, when thick black smoke appears at the top.
The next stage is ‘Off Gassing’, when objects in the fire emit gasses as they rapidly decompose.
This is followed by ‘Rollover’, when ‘ghost fingers’ reach across the ceiling then pull back and puff out.
Next comes ‘Auto Ignition’, when all the off gassing starts to ignite and spot fires appear randomly in what appears to be pretty clean space.
Finally, you have the ‘Flashover’.
Smith explains, “Flashover looks like an explosion, so it looks like the room basically blows up, but what’s actually happening is all the objects, because of the heat build up, are lighting so fast, all at once, that it simulates an explosion. And that room goes from 300-400 degrees on the ground to 2,000 degrees in under one second and that’s it.”
Smith said the whole event takes only about nine minutes, meaning time is of the essence when a fire begins to be alerted and get to safety.
Cadet Nigel Ton (pictured at left) was the first cadet to have the experience. His reaction to the virtual reality images was that it was “cool!”
As he watched the virtual development of the fire, he realized he needed to get low, down below the smoke.
Steve Elgersma is one of the leaders of the church cadets. He was thrilled to be able to offer this presentation to the group. He was happy to share what the corps is all about: “We have boys from Grades 4 to 8. What we do here is we teach cadets. It’s a Calvinist Cadet Corps. We teach the boys how to tie knots, how to build fires in the wilderness, how to use a compass, how to be adults. We also do Bible study here and then we split off into groups and learn how to use tools like drills and saws and all kinds of stuff.”
The cadets meet every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. For further information, contact Steve Elgersma at 289-377-8140.
