Elevating high-rise fire training with LION
Isabelle Crow
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A fire and rescue trainer consultant and Dutch Technical Rescue discusses challenges of traditional drills, value of LION digital training and lessons for global departments
High-rise fires rank among the most complex emergencies firefighters encounter.
These incidents combine vertical movement, unpredictable smoke behaviour, challenging communications and the pressure of saving lives several stories above the ground.
As buildings rise higher and urban development becomes more vertical, fire departments face an urgent question: are their crews truly prepared?
For a veteran fire and rescue trainer, consultant and a long-standing Dutch Technical Rescue (STH) member, the key to safer, more effective high-rise preparedness lies in rethinking how these complex scenarios are taught.
With several years of operational and instructional experience, he has witnessed the shortcomings of traditional high-rise drills – often static, logistically demanding and limited in realism – and has embraced new digital solutions that are transforming what is possible in firefighter training.
Beyond his training role, he also serves with the specialised national technical rescue teams, elite units equipped with advanced structural engineering expertise and specialised tools.
These teams are mobilized for the most challenging incidents – building collapses, train derailments or rescues where victims are trapped beyond standard firefighting methods.
Able to deploy nationwide within 90 minutes, they provide crucial support to local brigades when every second counts.
The urgency of realistic high-rise training
According to this fire and rescue trainer consultant, who regularly works with metropolitan fire departments across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the stakes in high-rise fire training have never been higher.
“Cities are building taller. Residential high-rises, mixed-use complexes, skyscrapers – it’s not just downtown office towers anymore. Every department, large or small, is likely to face a high-rise fire scenario.”
The problem, he explains, is that high-rise firefighting presents fundamentally different challenges compared to typical structure fires.
Crews must navigate narrow stairwells with gear, manage water supply through standpipes, maintain communication across multiple floors and often make split-second decisions without visual cues.
Yet despite these differences, many training programs still follow outdated approaches, largely due to logistical constraints.
Finding a suitable building, safely simulating fire conditions and resetting between scenarios can be time-consuming, physically exhausting and operationally inefficient.
The challenges of traditional high-rise training
The trainer outlines several core frustrations that come with traditional high-rise exercises:
Limited access to buildings: Many departments rely on training towers or temporarily accessible buildings, which aren’t always equipped for realistic multi-floor fire simulations
Physical burden on instructors: Trainers often need to move between floors to manually adjust props or smoke generators, leading to fatigue and loss of instructional time
Static scenarios: Once training begins, the environment is usually fixed. “Fires don’t stay static in real life,” the trainer emphasises. “Our training needs to reflect that dynamic behaviour”
Slow reset times: Preparing and tearing down scenarios takes time, reducing the number of teams and the length that can be trained in a single session
These limitations not only impact the quality of instruction but also reduce overall training throughput – a critical issue in departments with limited time and staffing.
A turning point: Integrating LION’s digital tools
The trainer’s outlook began to change after integrating LION’s wireless and clean digital training tools into his programs. He describes the experience as a breakthrough in both effectiveness and efficiency.
LION’s system, the HyperFire™, allows instructors to wirelessly control several ATTACK™ digital panels, with flames, sound effects, and smoke via a smoke generator, using a tablet connected via WiFi.
What once required physical adjustment and constant movement can now be done in real time with the tap of a screen.
“It completely changed the game. I no longer have to climb stairs mid-scenario or interrupt training to make a small adjustment. I can focus on observing crew performance and adapting the scenario live.”
The ability to control multi-floor scenarios remotely not only saves time and energy, it dramatically improves safety and training quality.
From a command post or exterior location, trainers can initiate and escalate simulated fires, adjust smoke conditions and introduce new challenges as the scenario evolves.
Real-time escalation and lateral fire behaviour
What sets LION’s system apart, the trainer says, is its ability to simulate the dynamic nature of real high-rise fires.
Using the HyperFire features via the tablet interface, trainers can escalate a simulated fire vertically from one floor to another or create lateral fire spread into adjacent rooms or wings.
This allows for true complexity in scenario planning – something that was previously impractical without extensive infrastructure or live-fire capability.
In a recent drill, the trainer designed a scenario where digital smoke and flames began on the fourth floor of a training tower.
As the crew initiated their attack, the system escalated the fire to the sixth floor and introduced an audible mayday call on the eighth floor.
The crew had to rapidly adjust tactics, request backup and reassess their suppression strategy in real time.
“It created stress and decision-making pressure very close to a real fire,” he explains. “And because everything was digital, I could control the escalation safely and instantly.”
Such dynamic evolution is particularly useful for reinforcing command structure, radio discipline and split-crew coordination – key aspects of high-rise operations that can’t be effectively trained in static drills.
Setup and teardown in minutes
Another benefit the trainer highlights is the speed and simplicity of setup.
Traditional live-fire drills require time-consuming safety checks, material handling, and cleanup. Even non-live scenarios with props can involve hours of preparation. LION’s digital systems, by contrast, are portable, fast, plug-and-play and clean.
“We can run a scenario, reset in five minutes, and be ready for the next crew. There’s no debris, no water residue when using the LION’s digital nozzle and no reliance on infrastructure.”
This speed allows multiple teams to cycle through tailored scenarios within a single day or evening, an enormous efficiency gain for training officers tasked with preparing large numbers of firefighters in short windows.
Additionally, because the system is infrastructure-independent, it can be deployed in a wide range of buildings with minimal planning or permission requirements.
Supporting modern operational demands
The trainer quickly clarifies that digital tools don’t replace live fire – they enhance the spectrum of available training. What LION provides is a flexible, scalable method to increase realism and repetition safely.
With fire behaviour becoming more aggressive due to modern materials and building designs, and staffing pressures increasing, departments need to train for more while having fewer resources.
LION’s training solutions help bridge that gap by delivering practical high-rise fire training without the burden of traditional logistics: “The more we can replicate pressure, decision points and communication breakdowns in training, the better crews will perform on the fireground.”
Enhancing evaluation and after-action learning
Another key advantage, according to the trainer, is the system’s control and repeatability.
Because every scenario element is instructor-driven, trainers can ensure consistency across evolutions, which makes post-scenario evaluation more meaningful.
“Being able to say, ‘this was the exact smoke condition and timing you faced’ helps immensely during debriefs,” he says. “We can isolate where decisions were made, assess leadership and reinforce good habits with clarity.”
The way forward
As urban firefighting becomes more complex, the need for high-quality, realistic high-rise training will only grow. Departments must adapt their training programs to meet modern demands, safeguard their trainers and make the most of limited time and resources.
This veteran trainer’s experience with LION’s digital product line shows that smarter, safer high-rise training is no longer a future goal – it’s available now.
“This is what modern training should look like – responsive, immersive, and adaptable. The crews are more engaged. The scenarios are more realistic. And we’re finally using technology in a way that helps – not hinders – the trainer’s role.”