Firefighters who are used to knocking down doors with heavy equipment and battling suffocating fire now are learning about new ways technology can help them more efficiently battle big blazes.
Trainees at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy Winter Fire School in St. George spent a lot of time last month operating touch screens, analyzing data and learning ways to implement technology.
Firefighters are learning to use three-dimensional map projections that pop up from the floor like holograms and show computerized simulation of how a fire would spread, or how traffic might impede their access, or how an unsuspected gas leak might complicate matters.
Wildfires over the past year across the western U.S. have raised the profile of firefighting expertise and citizens' expectations of their local departments.
