Diamond simulator crucial for SCDF training
With its snaking pipes, storage cylinders and tall distillation tower, the facility may look like a typical chemical processing plant in Tuas or Jurong Island.
In reality, the plant is a training simulator used by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) for its industrial fire and hazardous material (hazmat) training.
The Diamond hazmat simulator is located in the Home Team Tactical Centre in Mandai. It also allows for gas and oil leak training. The tactical centre houses two other simulators - the Orca, a ship firefighting training facility, and the Leaning Tower, which simulates a collapsed building.
The hazmat simulator is named after the diamond-shaped symbol used for the identification of hazards under a US fire protection code that has been adopted by emergency teams around the world.
The code also guides firefighters in the type of equipment and procedures that should be used.
The Diamond simulator provides realistic training for SCDF personnel to hone their advanced firefighting skills, said Major Lionel Lee, 40, head of the hazmat branch at the Civil Defence Academy.
"At this simulation ground, we have 12 fire simulators and three leak simulators. This will enable us to do 40 to 50 scenarios to test our front-liners in ways they cannot possibly predict," he said.
The five-storey infrastructure, officially opened in October 2015, allows firefighters to confront fires from storage cylinders, distillation towers and reactors, including gas leaks and toxic spills, said Maj Lee, who helped design it.
Instructors can monitor the firefighters' progress in various firefighting and rescue scenarios from a control room.
But as a precaution, an accompanying instructor carries a device, about the size of a pencil case, that controls a fire's size and extinguishes it immediately if necessary.
There are also kill buttons on pillars nearby to extinguish fires during training.
In February last year and March this year, SCDF firefighters had to tackle industrial-sized fires at a waste management plant handling toxic waste in Tuas View Circuit and an oil storage facility on Pulau Busing respectively.
Both fires were extinguished without serious injuries to firefighters.
Training prevents "surprises", said Maj Rayner Oon, commander of Tampines Fire Station.
Said hazmat-trained Maj Oon, 30: "The training at Diamond allows our personnel to be familiar with what is being used in the industry. So when they turn out for an incident... they don't get surprised by what they see."
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