Success Story: XpertFire Training Delivery in Dryden, Ontario
Delivered by XpertVR, with support from the Skills Development Fund and the City of Dryden
- Published: March 17, 2026
- Focus Area: Skill development for Dryden fightfighters.
An Introduction:
Getting to Dryden, Ontario is not simple. Trains, planes, buses, and long winter drives through Northern Ontario wilderness are part of everyday logistics. That reality is exactly why access to consistent, high-quality training matters so much for departments serving remote and regional communities.
In late 2025, XpertVR delivered its first XpertFire training under the Skills Development Fund in Dryden, bringing immersive virtual reality firefighter training directly to the community. Over two days, 28 participants took part in the training, including full-time firefighters, volunteer members, emergency response staff from a local mill, and representatives from nearby departments. Participants reflected the diversity of the community itself, including women, men, Indigenous firefighters and even a visit with the local moose.
Training That Reflects the Real Fireground
The Dryden delivery focused on what firefighters repeatedly say they need more of. The work that happens between dispatch and demobilization. Communication. Coordination. Decision-making under pressure.
Because of this training scenarios emphasized:
Radio communication and discipline
Incident Command decision-making
Full-crew search and suppression operations
Movement, coordination, and task delegation
To increase realism, crews were sometimes physically separated into different rooms while operating within the same virtual incident. Allowing incident Command to run independently from interior crews, forcing participants to rely on clear radio traffic, accurate size-ups, and disciplined communication. Every scenario combined search, suppression, and command, mirroring real-world operations rather than isolated skills.
Lowering Barriers Increasing Confidence
As with many first-time VR users, some participants initially struggled with controls and navigation. Although this adjustment period was short. Within a couple of scenarios, firefighters were confidently running interior searches, managing air, coordinating with command, and adapting to evolving conditions.
What stood out was not just technical skill development, but behavioral improvement. Crews communicated more clearly. Command decisions became more structured. Firefighters began thinking several steps ahead instead of reacting moment to moment.
"Over two days, 28 participants took part in the training, including full-time firefighters, volunteer members, emergency response staff from a local mill, and representatives from nearby departments."
Safe Repetition Without Replacing Live Fire
XpertFire is designed to complement, not replace, hands-on training. In Dryden, firefighters used VR to rehearse scenarios that are difficult, costly, or unsafe to repeat frequently. Radio traffic, crew coordination, uncommon scenarios, and command-level decision-making were all practiced without weather constraints, travel costs, or physical risk.
The result is a training tool that departments can use year-round. On cold winter days. During hot summer months. Before live burn training. Between major exercises. Always reinforcing readiness.
Ongoing Access Through the Skills Development Fund
Following the delivery, Dryden continues to receive free access to XpertFire software through the Skills Development Fund.
XpertVR is supporting the department as it explores long-term options for monthly training, including assisting with sourcing hardware at the lowest possible cost so training can continue on their own schedule.
This approach allows departments to scale at their own pace. Some may train monthly. Others may focus on seasonal refreshers. All can integrate VR into their existing training culture without disrupting live-fire or hands-on skill development.
Improves understanding of processes.
Low cost entry to training.
Building a Model for Northern Communities
The Dryden delivery demonstrates what is possible when advanced training is brought directly to communities instead of asking communities to travel for training. It also highlights how immersive technology, when paired with local leadership and provincial support, can strengthen firefighter readiness regardless of geography.
Support from the Skills Development Fund made this delivery possible. The result was a hands-on, practical training experience designed around the realities firefighters face, not a classroom approximation of them.