Multi-team XR training
Fire, police and medical. One emergency. One training system.
FlashGroup XR is a virtual reality training system that lets fire, law enforcement and medical teams train for the same emergency, in the same room, at the same time. Built in the Netherlands, supplied across Southern Africa by SkillsTrain.
Watch FlashGroup Academy
See the training system in action
A short film from FlashGroup showing how emergency teams train with the Academy system, from real equipment replicas to full scenario simulations. SkillsTrain supplies FlashGroup XR across Southern Africa.
Plug and play virtual reality
One system that trains the whole emergency response
FlashGroup XR is built for the people who run towards trouble when everyone else runs away. VR (virtual reality) means putting on a headset and stepping into a realistic emergency that looks, sounds and reacts like the real thing, with nobody in danger. XR (extended reality) goes further: it blends that virtual world with real physical equipment your team can pick up and use, so the training feels like the job, not like a video game.
Most training tools do one discipline well. FlashGroup XR covers three, firefighting, law enforcement and medical response, and can put those teams into a single shared scenario so they learn to work together the way they must on a real callout.
Hardware you can hold
Replicas of your professional equipment
Instead of booking a burn site, closing a road or staging a mock casualty, your team opens a case, sets up in minutes and steps into the scenario. FlashGroup XR uses real equipment replicas: physical props matched to the gear your people use, fitted with wireless sensors so the system knows where the equipment is and what the trainee is doing with it.
Pick up the hose, the extinguisher or the medical tool and the virtual world responds. The result is training your team can repeat as often as they like, in the corner of a room, until the right response becomes second nature.
Three disciplines, one platform
Fire, police and medical, each built around the real job
FlashGroup XR runs three specialist training lines. Each is built around how that profession actually works, and they can be combined in a shared scenario when teams need to train side by side.
Read the fire, before it reads you
Practise structure and industrial fire response, including a flashover simulation. A flashover is the sudden moment a burning room reaches ignition point all at once. Trainees learn to spot the warning signs and react, without ever being near real fire.
Judgement under pressure
Built for police, security and defence teams, Flashpoint focuses on tactical decision making and de-escalation, using communication and positioning to calm a tense situation before it turns violent. High risk skills, rehearsed safely and repeatedly.
Fast and calm, every time
The medical response line for EMS teams and first responders. Trainees work through immersive procedures and triage, quickly assessing casualties and deciding who needs help first. A skill that benefits enormously from realistic, repeated practice.
All contained in one case
A complete training ground, in a single suitcase
The system arrives in a robust, portable case built for mobility. It contains everything you need to start a session: the VR headset, computers, touchscreen, its own WiFi, the software and the replicas of your equipment. Insert your own SIM card and it works well into the middle of Africa.
Turn any space into a training ground in a matter of minutes. There is no dedicated facility to build and no technical specialist required to switch it on.
Two systems, two jobs
Elementary and Academy
FlashGroup comes as two distinct products. Elementary is the portable, plug and play compliance unit you can take anywhere. Academy is the full, high end system that lives in a training academy. Here is the difference, plainly.
Portable compliance, that travels to the trainee
A standalone guided simulator in a carry case, built for compliance training: first aid, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), AED use (an automated external defibrillator restarts a stopped heart), evacuation and firefighting. It answers a simple question for an organisation: are you compliant? This helps you get there.
The full system, that stays and trains at scale
The professional grade platform, run from a single operator module with a large, expanding content library and layerable, scenario-based training. Adjustable fire intensity covers every accredited discipline, from aircraft rescue and firefighting to swift water rescue, high angle rescue and vehicle extrication.
| Academy kit | Elementary kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Academies, brigades, full team programmes | Starter and standalone training |
| Players | Multiplayer, train as a team | Standalone simulator |
| Disciplines | Fire, medical and crisis together | Guided emergency response modules |
| Setup | Plug and play from one suitcase, ready in minutes | Portable carry case |
| Equipment replicas | Yes, wireless with position sensors | Guided module based training |
| Environments | Scenario based, layerable | 13 distinct environments |
| Tracking | Scenario evaluation and playback | Progress dashboard |
Academy kit
Elementary kit
Run from one module
Your instructor stays the hero of the room
The whole system runs from a single operator module. An instructor builds a scenario, runs it, then evaluates and plays it back, turning one exercise into a full debrief. Immediate feedback and motion tracking show trainees exactly what they did and what it cost.
None of this replaces your instructor. It gives them more repetitions to run and instant data to coach from, so the person in the room stays the expert. That is the point: technology that amplifies your trainers, it does not stand in for them.
The evidence
The proof behind FlashGroup XR
These numbers come from cited research on VR training and from FlashGroup XR. We share them because the evidence is theirs, not ours.
Fewer mistakes
Faster response
Better overall performance
In cited research on immersive VR training for emergency responders, participants made 46% fewer mistakes and worked 29% faster (Koutitas et al., 2021). FlashGroup also reports 36% better overall performance. The reason these results hold up is how the system trains: real replicas build muscle memory that transfers to the real gear, immediate feedback shows exactly what happened, and every scenario can be created, evaluated and played back. As with all VR training, it is used to train more often and more safely alongside live exercises, not to replace them.
Source: Koutitas, Smith and Lawrence, "Virtual Reality" (2021), link.springer.com. The study measured EMS first responders, so the 46% and 29% figures reflect emergency medical training; the 36% overall performance figure is reported by FlashGroup XR.
Figures published by FlashGroup XR. SkillsTrain supplies FlashGroup XR in Southern Africa and does not deliver or accredit the training itself.
Who it is for
Built for the teams who have to be ready
Fire services and brigades
Municipal and industrial fire teams who need to drill structure fires and dangerous events like flashover far more often than a live burn site allows.
Police, security and defence
Units that rehearse tactical decisions and de-escalation, where the skill is human judgement under pressure and live rehearsal carries real risk.
EMS and ambulance services
Paramedic and first responder teams practising procedures and triage, so they stay sharp on the calls that come without warning.
Academies and governments
Fire colleges, EMS academies and public sector training bodies that need to give every student consistent, repeatable, hands on practice.
See it for yourself
Step into the scenario
The fastest way to understand FlashGroup XR is to pick up the equipment and step into a scenario. Book a demo and we will walk your team through it on the discipline that fits you, whether that is fire, police or medical. No obligation, just a proper look at what your training could become.
Frequently asked questions
What is FlashGroup XR?
FlashGroup XR is a virtual reality training system for emergency services, built in the Netherlands. It trains three disciplines, firefighting, law enforcement and medical response, and uses real physical equipment replicas fitted with sensors so the training feels like the job. SkillsTrain supplies FlashGroup XR in Southern Africa. VR means virtual reality, a headset based simulated environment; XR means extended reality, that virtual world blended with real physical objects.
What are the three FlashGroup XR training lines?
Flashover is for firefighters and includes a flashover simulation, the sudden moment a burning room fully ignites. Flashpoint is for police, security and defence, focused on tactical decisions and de-escalation, which means calming a tense situation before it turns violent. Flashaid is for EMS (Emergency Medical Services, the ambulance and paramedic side of care), covering immersive procedures and triage, the process of deciding which casualty to treat first.
What is the difference between Elementary and Academy?
Elementary is the portable, plug and play unit for compliance training: first aid, CPR, AED use, evacuation and firefighting. It travels to the trainee. Academy is the full high end system that stays in a training academy, with a large, expanding content library and layerable, scenario-based training covering accredited disciplines like aircraft rescue and firefighting, swift water rescue, high angle rescue and vehicle extrication.
Does FlashGroup XR training actually work?
In cited research on immersive VR training for emergency responders, participants made 46% fewer mistakes and worked 29% faster (Koutitas et al., 2021); FlashGroup XR also reports 36% better overall performance. As with all VR training, it is used to train more often and more safely alongside live exercises, not to replace them entirely.
Can fire, police and medical teams really train together?
Yes. The Academy kit is designed to be multidiscipline, which means fire, medical and crisis teams can share a single scenario and practise coordinating the way they must on a real callout. This is one of the main reasons larger services choose FlashGroup XR over a single discipline tool.
How portable is the system?
Very. The Academy kit is contained in a single suitcase and is plug and play, so it deploys in minutes without a technical specialist. The Elementary kit is a standalone simulator in a portable case. Both are built to be set up in an ordinary room rather than a dedicated facility.
SkillsTrain is the Southern African supplier of FlashGroup XR. We distribute and support the resources; the training is delivered by the accredited organisations that use them.