Fireground Sim Walkthrough: A Beginner’s Guide To Getting Started

Fireground Sim was built to help you get reps. Get reps on the radio, reps managing units and reps rehearsing playbooks assignments.

That is really the whole point.

It is not meant to replace real training, real experience, company drills, or learning from people who have actually done the job. Nothing replaces that. But it does give you a place to practice when you are by yourself, when your study group is not available, or when you want to run through scenarios without needing five people, a classroom, and someone willing to pretend to be Ladder 7 for an hour.

If you are new to the app, this guide will walk you through what each part does and how I would recommend using it.

What Fireground Sim Is

Fireground Sim is a tactical training platform for firefighters, promotional candidates, study groups, coaches, and departments.

I built this app while I was going through the promotional process myself. I wanted a tool that allowed me to get actual radio reps and practice verbalizing our playbooks without needing an entire crew or an instructor present.

Depending on what you are working on, you can use it to practice:

• Scene size ups

• Command presence

• Radio communication

• Unit assignments

• Pump operations

• Accountability

• Tactical decision making

• After action review

The big idea is simple: practice the parts of the job that are hard to practice alone.

Most people do not struggle because they have never heard the right answer. They struggle because they have not practiced saying the right answer under pressure. There is a big difference.

Before You Start

Fireground Sim works best in a modern browser. Chrome is the most tested and recommended. Safari works too, but it can sometimes act weird with microphone permissions, especially on iPhones and iPads.

You can sign in with Google, email, or create a new account.

If you are on a desktop, hold the Spacebar when you want to transmit. If you are on a phone or tablet, use the Push to Talk button on the screen.

That one detail matters. If you are talking and nothing is happening, make sure you are actually holding Push to Talk. The app is not ignoring you. It just needs you to key up like a normal radio.

If anything feels frozen or unresponsive, try a hard refresh. That usually clears it up.

Where I Would Start

If you are brand new, I would not try to use every feature on day one.

I would go in this order:

1. Scene Size Ups

2. Pump Simulator

3. Command Sim

4. Command Sim Pro

5. Instructor Mode if you are training with a group

That order makes the most sense to me because it builds naturally. First you practice seeing and describing the scene. Then you practice pump operations. Then you start managing an incident. After that, you can move into accountability tracking and group training.

Scene Size Ups

Scene Size Ups is probably the easiest place to start.

There is no microphone, no AI radio, no grading, and no score. The app simply gives you a new emergency scene every 30 seconds. Your job is to say your size up out loud.

That is it.

You might see:

• Structure fires

• Vehicle accidents

• Hazmat incidents

• Plane crashes

• Other emergency scenes

The value is in the repetition. You are training yourself to look at a scene, process what you are seeing, and say something clear.

Do not worry about being perfect. Just get the words out.

A basic size up might include:

• What you have

• What you see

• What action you are taking

• What command you are establishing

• What resources are coming

• Any immediate hazards or priorities

The images are AI-generated, so every once in a while you may see something strange. Do not get stuck on that. Say the report, move on, and get the next rep.

Pump Simulator

The Pump Simulator is available on the free Probie account. It is a standalone tool for practicing pump operations and hydraulic decision making.

There is no AI voice and no microphone. It is just you, the pump panel, the tank, the gauges, and the water.

To start, pick your tank size:

• 500 gallons

• 750 gallons

• 1000 gallons

Then you can open discharges, set your pump discharge pressure, establish a hydrant supply, and watch how the system responds.

The basic flow is:

1. Set the tank capacity.

2. Open the lines you want to flow.

3. Watch the tank drain.

4. Establish a hydrant supply.

5. Monitor your intake and discharge pressure.

6. Reset and run it again.

The simulator shows live hydraulic information, including friction loss, target pressure, nozzle pressure, gallons per minute, and nozzle reaction.

The tank display changes color as water drops:

• Blue means full.

• Green means around 50 percent.

• Orange means around 25 percent.

• Red means critical.

If you open too many lines without establishing a water supply, your pressure is going to fall apart. That is by design. The simulator is meant to teach water supply discipline in a way that is immediate and easy to understand.

Command Sim

Command Sim is where you start practicing as the first-arriving incident commander.

You select the incident type, set your unit information, build your response matrix, and then run the call through an AI radio simulation.

You can practice incidents like:

• Single family fires

• Multi-family fires

• Commercial fires

• High-rise incidents

• Vehicle entrapments

• Rural fires

• Flammable or carbon monoxide emergencies

You can also enter a real address and use Google Street View. That is helpful if you want to practice with target hazards or buildings in your first-due area.

Before the simulation starts, you can set the number of responding units. Try to match your local dispatch protocol. Just remember that your own unit is already included, so do not add yourself twice.

The Opening Sequence

The beginning of Command Sim matters.

Do not rush it.

The normal flow is:

1. Hit “Let’s Burn.”

2. Listen to the dispatch.

3. Arrive on scene.

4. Give your initial size up.

5. Complete your 360.

6. Transmit your 360 report.

7. Wait for the Battalion Chief to acknowledge it.

8. Press “Start Timer.”

That Start Timer button is important. It triggers the arriving units. If you skip it, the simulation will not move forward the way you expect.

This is one of the most common beginner mistakes. The app is waiting for you to do the next step.

Managing The Incident

Once the timer starts, units begin arriving about every 20 seconds.

Your job is to assign them, manage the radio, ask for updates, and keep the incident moving.

The radio traffic can get messy if units start stacking up. That is intentional. Real incidents are not perfectly clean. People talk over each other. Units arrive while you are still thinking. Someone asks a question right when your brain is trying to build the next assignment.

That is the point of the training.

The app may also throw in rare events like:

• A mayday

• A collapse

• Victims found

You can also manually inject events using the buttons on the screen.

The sim usually ends when the Battalion Chief arrives and asks for a CAN report.

CAN stands for:

• Conditions

• Actions

• Needs

This is your chance to give a clean transfer of command.

Command Sim Pro

Command Sim Pro adds a digital command board, timestamps, accountability tracking, and a command log.

This is where the app starts to feel more like a full incident management tool.

There are two modes.

Standard Mode

Standard Mode runs with the AI radio and an elapsed timer. This is the normal Command Sim Pro experience.

Real-World Mode

Real-World Mode removes the AI radio. It is designed for real incidents or physical drills where you want to use the digital command board without the simulation talking back to you.

If you are in Real-World Mode, the AI will not respond. That is expected.

The Digital Command Board

The Digital Command Board lets you track units and assignments.

The left side shows your assigned units. When a unit arrives, tap it to mark it on scene. The app records the actual time.

Then you can drag units into assignment cards like:

• Command

• Fire Attack

• Water Supply

• Primary Search

• Ventilation

• RIT

• Rehab

• Medical

Once a unit is placed into an assignment, you can add notes like “Floor 2” or “Charlie side.”

Drag slowly and deliberately. It is not meant to be a fast swipe.

On the right side, you can mark benchmarks like:

• Water supply established

• Knockdown

• Primary search complete

• PAR checks

Everything gets timestamped.

The Command Log

The Command Log automatically records what you do during the simulation.

It tracks unit arrivals, movements, assignments, benchmarks, and other actions. You do not have to manually write everything down.

You can export the log as a text file. That can be useful for creating an after action report, reviewing a training session, or dropping the log into an AI tool to help summarize what happened.

That is one of the more practical uses of AI in the whole process. You do the drill, the app captures the timeline, and then you can turn that into something useful after.

Instructor Mode

Instructor Mode is part of the Chief Package.

This is built for study groups, coaches, and departments that want to run a shared session.

The instructor creates the session and sends out a link. Guests can join without logging in. Each guest picks their unit from the call matrix and participates in the radio traffic.

The instructor controls:

• The board

• The session

• The AI dispatch

• Unit movement

• Assignments

• The command log

Guests can talk over the shared radio, view the scene, and follow along with the board. The board is read-only for guests, so only the instructor moves pieces and marks assignments.

A few things to know:

• The session link is single-use.

• If the instructor ends the session, the link dies.

• If the host loses connection, guests lose board sync.

• Safari on iOS may cause microphone permission issues.

This mode is great if you have a study group or want to run remote tactical practice.

Knowledge Tester

The Knowledge Tester is currently an on-request feature and points to an external quiz.

It is designed for promotional studying and department SOP review. You can take mobile-friendly multiple choice tests and get immediate feedback when you miss something.

The point is repetition. Take the test, find the weak spot, fix it, and run it again.

That is how studying actually works. Unfortunately, the brain does not usually accept “I highlighted it once” as a serious learning strategy.

A Simple First-Day Plan

If you are opening Fireground Sim for the first time, here is how I would use it:

1. Spend 10 minutes on Scene Size Ups.

2. Open the Pump Simulator and play with the lines, tank, and hydrant supply.

3. Run one Command Sim without worrying about being perfect.

4. Run a second Command Sim and focus only on your opening size up and 360.

5. Run a third Command Sim and focus on unit assignments.

6. Try Command Sim Pro once the regular version starts to feel familiar.

7. Review the Command Log after a Pro session.

Do not try to master everything immediately. That is not realistic, and it is also a great way to annoy yourself into quitting.

Start with the basics. Get comfortable. Then add complexity.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Most beginner issues are simple once you know what to look for.

The big ones are:

• Forgetting to hold Push to Talk.

• Forgetting to establish command.

• Skipping the 360.

• Forgetting to press Start Timer.

• Expecting Real-World Mode to have AI radio responses.

• Missing the map inset.

• Dragging too fast on the Pro command board.

• Waiting for Scene Size Ups to grade you.

• Thinking radio chaos means the app is broken.

If something feels off, slow down and check the sequence. Most of the time, the app is waiting for one specific action.

Final Thought

Fireground Sim is not here to make you magically good at command. Nothing does that.

It gives you a place to practice.

That is the value.

You can run bad reps, clean them up, and run them again. You can practice your size up until it sounds natural. You can get used to assigning units. You can make mistakes without a room full of people watching you wonder where your vocabulary went.

For me, that is the point.

The more you practice the rhythm, the calmer you get. The calmer you get, the better you sound. And the better you sound, the more prepared you feel when it actually matters.

Start simple. Get the reps. Build the rhythm.

That is the method to the madness.