Innovation Awards 2017

EVALUATOR COMMENTS
Congratulations on a very effective and innovative tool for saving countless lives not only here in New Zealand but also globally. Great use of
immersive and highly scalable emerging technologies. Very proud this is a Kiwi initiative with global interest.
Innovation in Media, Marketing & Communications
FIRE AND EMERGENCY
NEW ZEALAND
Escape My House
I
t’s winter, it’s cold, and the laundry’s still
wet, so you move it a little closer to the
fireplace, to get your clothes toasty warm in
no time. You leave the room briefly and, the next
thing you know, it's engulfed in a sea of flames.
As panic swiftly sets in, what should you do?
Thankfully, you can relax because the
scenario is a fictional one that's the basis for
Fire and Emergency New Zealand's campaign,
Escape My House.
The online virtual reality technology and
360-degree video, created in conjunction
with production companies Kaleidoscope and
Staples VR, lets users experience what it’s like
to escape a house fire, including features that
demonstrate the emotional and psychological
barriers that those caught in the event are
often faced with.
The confronting scenario flows through to
the ‘Escape Planner Tool’, a mobile optimised
website (with no app to download) that
prompts users to walk from room-to-room,
quickly and simply, generating an escape plan
for their home. Users then commit to fix any
barriers, to be followed up with an automated
reminder email to practice their plan.
The project came about following qualitative
research undertaken with frontline firefighters
and members of the public. It found most
people only had a plan consisting of “I’ll just
run out the front door, no worries”. They hadn’t
stopped to consider what they would do if
their first exit was blocked, let alone how other
household members would get out, or where
they’d find them. In essence, there was no
escape planned.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand needed
an innovative, and cost-effective, way to show
people why they need an escape plan, along
with an easy way to convert education into
action.
For many years, the company has tried to
overcome this problem with their Home Fire
Safety Visit initiative, involving sending a fire
truck with four crew members to check smoke
alarms, and make escape plans. However,
Home Fire Safety Visits cost upwards of $250
per household, and reach about 1,600 homes
per month.
With Escape My House, apathy is overcome
by empathy; by showing everybody what it’s
like to escape a house fire. Virtual reality offers
the ability to do this safely, and at scale. Fire
and Emergency New Zealand is now engaging
more than double the number of people
in making detailed escape plans than they
previously were with their ‘Home Fire Safety
Visits’ initiative, at just 40 percent of the cost.
Since its March launch, the online tool has
been experienced by over 120,000 users and
the video on Facebook has been viewed more
than 10 million times and shared by more than
86,000 people.
The success of this innovation has prompted
international fire services around the world,
including Spain, UK, Australia and France, to
look at replicating what has been achieved in
New Zealand.
As Peter Wilding, Fire and Emergency
New Zealand's manager of fire investigation
and arson reduction, says: “We’re not just
preaching at them anymore; we’re giving them
an experience that will save their life.”
"
With Escape My House,
apathy is overcome by
empathy; by showing
everybody what it’s like
to escape a house fire.
Virtual reality offers
the ability to do this
safely, and at scale.
"
innovationawards.org.nz / 35