A Study of Real-time Information on User Behaviors during Search and Rescue (SAR) Training of Firefighters

Search and rescue (SAR) is an essential skill for many first responders including firefighters. With the new development of technologies on environmental sensing, we are now equipped with the new capability of utilizing real-time information from a fire scene to assist SAR tasks. This work is to explore the effects of immersive maps, that collect information automatically from the environment including human and building structures, on user behaviors during SAR operations. We have developed a VR prototype system for SAR training with controlled fire scenes and information collections. We also designed and performed a user study focusing on the factors of information amount in an immersive map and danger degree of SAR tasks. We have summarized a set of user behaviors from our study, and captured their features with statistical data analysis. Our results confirm the advantages of real-time information for SAR tasks and differences of user behaviors under dangerous situations. Our results also demonstrate the potential of studying user behaviors with virtual training and deriving insights to design effective training programs.