SCHERERVILLE | A new program in Schererville would allow firefighters to combat blazes from the safety of an office chair.

The Blue Card Command training program was developed by the Phoenix-based veteran firefighting Brunacini family, with help from the Clay Fire Territory in South Bend. The program poses various scenarios to help in firefighter training, and Schererville wants to set up a training area in Town Hall on a more permanent basis, Schererville Assistant Fire Chief Rob Dowling said.

"It simulates the real fire conditions without putting your guys in jeopardy of live fire training," he said.

The goal is to have the training area set up in the next few months. Dowling, who is trained to teach others how to use the software, said he would like the town to have a bank of six computers with the specialized program installed.

"Any type of structure fire can be simulated with this," he said. "We can use what we've learned in the simulator to use in real-life situations."

Firefighters in Schererville have been using state-issued laptops and a limited version of the software, but those five laptops and the software are supposed to be shared with other fire departments around the state, so Schererville cannot keep them, Dowling said.

The simulated training not only helps prepare firefighters for incidents they may not have encountered before. It helps in their efforts to achieve a level of training called blue card certification.

The certification shows that the cardholder is capable of mitigating everything from small residential fires to large-scale fires that would require help from multiple jurisdictions, Dowling said.

"In order for the staff to get the full blue card training, they need simulator time," he said.

Without a training area in Schererville, firefighters would have to travel to South Bend to train or wait for Schererville's next turn at the state-issued laptops, Dowling said.