A research team at Durham University have discovered that the systems behind popular first person shooters such as Halo can be effectively used to teach people about fire safety. After testing a few titles the team opted to use the engine behind Half Life 2 to create a virtual training ground for fire training simulations.

Steve Wharton, Deputy Community Safety Manager at County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service commented: "Using virtual models such as this one is an excellent way to raise fire safety awareness and test the effectiveness of a building’s design. Virtual models also provide an effective way to train fire-fighters in a realistic, yet safe, environment."

As part of the study, participants tested the virtual environment. They were told of a fire in the building and asked to find their way out and most people found the simulated environment to be realistic.

The virtual reality model was built based on Durham University’s Computer Science department consisting of three floors with a number of offices, meeting rooms and a reception. The Source engine which underlines the game Half-Life 2 was used to programme it with features such as fire alarm triggers, fire exit signs, and spreading fires.

Dr Shamus Smith of Durham’s computer science department said, "We could take what we’ve done and convert it into a mod, put it online and make it available to download. If you’ve got Half-Life 2 you could run the mod – it would be a free and easy fire training session".