Sacramento (CA) Fire Department Uses VR, Social Media to Attract Young Recruits

Video via sacramento.cbslocal.com

The Sacramento (CA) Fire Department has created a new virtual reality experience and jumped into the social media game in an effort to recruit the next generation of firefighters, reports sacramento.cbslocal.com.

Part of the new Division of Diversity, Outreach and Recruitment Program, the VR experience aims to allow the user to experience a day in the life of a firefighter—climbing a tall ladder, fighting a fire, and even vehicle extrication, the report says.

The technology—which uses 360-degree video to display the three aforementioned fire-centric scenarios—will be used at public events, the first of which will be the November 5 Kings/Hornets game at the Golden1 Center, the report says.

On the social media app TikTok, the department’s account boasts more than 65,500 followers, and its most-viewed video has more than 7 million views, 1 million likes, and more than 20,000 comments.

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