Are first responders prepared for electric vehicle fires? A national survey.

Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) will create both opportunities and challenges. Although some programs and resources related to EVs have been made available to first responders, it remains unknown whether our first responders are well prepared for traffic incidents that involve EVs and whether there are any organizational and geographic disparities in preparedness. To answer these questions, a national survey was conducted to collect feedback on responders' incident management knowledge and training experiences related to EVs, as well as their attitudes and concerns towards EVs.

Modeling Brain Dynamics During Virtual Reality-Based Emergency Response Learning Under Stress.

Background: Stress affects learning during training, and virtual reality (VR) based training systems that manipulate stress can improve retention and retrieval performance for firefighters. Brain imaging using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) can facilitate development of VR-based adaptive training systems that can continuously assess the trainee's states of learning and cognition.

Objective: The aim of this study was to model the neural dynamics associated with learning and retrieval under stress in a VR-based emergency response training exercise.