Home Fire Simulator Among Special Interactive Experiences at Jax Ready Fest

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Jax Ready Fest kicks off Friday with an interactive experience aimed at teaching you and your family how to be safe in an emergency – and every day in between.

Dozens of local agencies will be involved, and one of the features the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department will showcase is its fire simulator, which helps explain how to respond to fires that can occur in everyday situations.

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Like, for example, if you make a toast but out of nowhere a fire breaks out.

“It could scare a lot of people. If you prepare and are ready in advance, the best thing to do in a case like this is to just unplug it,” said JFRD Lt. Kwasi Dingle. “A lot of people don’t take fire safety seriously and this is actually an opportunity for people to get out and get some hands-on experience on what to do if there’s a fire in your home.”

In another scenario, the oven catches fire.

“If it catches fire, the best thing to do … is just kill the heat source,” Dingle said.

It doesn’t stop there. The simulator even features a fake emergency news broadcast that leads to a room-shaking storm simulator.

Dingle said JFRD wanted you to experience these things in the simulator for a reason.

“Fires are doubling and even tripling every minute,” Dingle warned. “The average response time in the city of Jacksonville is five to seven minutes. If you can stop a fire before it gets worse, this is a great opportunity to mitigate the fire before it gets out of control and we can come and help.

The simulator is just a small piece of what will be on display at Jax Ready Fest.

To learn more about the two-day festival, click here.