Klamath Community College gets simulation table for disaster training

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Klamath Community College students will now have a new logistical resource to use to train for firefighting, as well as other disasters and emergencies.

Thanks to a grant from Green Diamond Resource Company, the college’s Public Safety Regional Training Center has added a computer simulation table which will replicate various types of terrain through computer-generated models.

“We greatly appreciate the focus KCC has put on wildfire prevention and suppression with the newly established wildland fire program. We hope our donation will help our communities be more wildfire resistant and resilient,” said Robert Douglas, Timber Resource Analyst at Green Diamond’s Oregon operations.

Green Diamond is a sixth-generation, family-owned forest products company that owns and manages working forests in nine states throughout the western and southern U.S.

The new simtable will aid the college in teaching tactics about fighting wildfires, by allowing any mapped area to be shaped into a 3D replica.

“We can recreate Crater Lake and the surrounding mountains,” said Preston Hundley, KCC Wildland Fire Program Coordinator. “This includes the lake, rivers and streams and timbered acreage to demonstrate where a wildfire may travel given the weather conditions. Then we can study a plan of attack.”

The maps can be used to establish the quickest evacuation routes during an emergency, as well as indicating where homeowners need to create defensible space.

“This is one more step in enabling the KCC program to become a regional firefighting training center,” Hundley said.

He also said, teams can debrief following a wildfire to understand how the fire was fought and what they could do better in future disasters.

“Not only can it aid firefighting efforts, but it can chart natural disasters such as floods, or a toxic chemical spill from a nearby railyard, or downed powerlines. Plumes of smoke are included in the overlay, allowing one to see what areas may be affected,” Hundley said.