New ‘immersive cinema’ trains firefighters for megafires in Australia

A new virtual reality training tool called iFire is helping firefighters in Australia prepare for increasingly severe bushfires. Developed by the University of New South Wales, iFire uses AI and immersive cinematic scenarios to recreate realistic firegrounds. Firefighters can practice decision-making and situational awareness in a controlled environment, adapting variables like temperature and wind to see how fire behavior changes. The system is now being used at a fire academy in Sydney, with ongoing refinements to improve AI predictions of fire patterns. This technology aims to better equip firefighters for the growing threat of extreme, unpredictable blazes exacerbated by climate change.