BLAZE ===== Blaze was written by a serving Officer in the UK Fire Brigarde and therefore simulates conditions in a Fire Service's Centralized Control Room very accurately. As the 999 cals build up, the tension rises as resources become depleted and urgent action is required to depoly appliances on standby. The program has been used to train Fir Service Control Operators and therefore reproduces as authentic conditions as possible. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- The procedure for loading a program into your Spectrum is given in your manual. Please follow these steps for loading a program. 1. Connect the ear socket of the computer to the ear socket of your tape recorder. 2. Set the volume control as per Sinclair manual. 3. Adjust the tone control to maximum. 4. Type LOAD "". 5. Start the tape recorder. The program will RUN automatically once loaded. 1. OBJECTIVE ------------ To ensite each of 10 station areas has sufficient Fire appliances to cover the various incoming 999 calls. To achieve this you must deploy appliances from other stations. Speed in making decisions is essential. 2. TYPE OF FIRE APPLIANCES -------------------------- There are three types of appliances in this program: 1. Water Tenders WT General purpose Fire Appliances 2. Turnable Ladders TL Appliances with 100' ladder 3. Rescue Vehicles RV These appliances will attend road traffic accidents, incidents involving chemicals, large fires and rescue incidents. 3. DISPLAYS ----------- You have 2 types of display: 1. Electronic Map of City segmented. WT's are shown on the appliance availability display map in yelow, TL's are shown in red, RV's are schown in white. The number of appliances of each type which are available is shown in each square, e.g. 3 = 3 WT's 2 = 2 TL's 1 = 1 RV It requires a lot of skill to position the appliances so that they give cover to the maximum number of stations. Sometimes the 999 calls come in before you have time to order all necessary standbys. As in life luck, good or bad, plays its role in this program. 2. Monitor for 999 cals. There are many varied calls each requiring a different response in terms of fire appliances. 4. LENGTH OF GAME ----------------- You can set the simulation to run for 50 or 100 cycles. The time taken to complete the run will depend on your decisions and reactions during the program. The cycle number will be flashed in the top left corner of te screen occasionally. 5. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY ---------------------- You may choose the level of difficulty at which you require the program to run - from 1 to 9. (1 ist most difficult) The harder the rating the less appliances are available to you and allowed less time to react. If you go over the time allowed the computer will count that as an error. If you choose levels 1 to 3 then the computer may initiate a systems failure on the appliance availability display map. This means that although the appliances and other systems all function normally, the display might not be updated as the appliance availability alters. It is then necessary for you to both notice and remember the errors in order to carry out your own functions correctly. 6. WORKING ORDERS ----------------- 1. Minimum Operational Cover. You must endeavour to keep at last one WT available on each station area at all times. 2. Dispatching Appliances. Appliances can only attend incidents on their own or on adjoining stations areas. 3. Ordering Standbys. Appliances may be moved right across one station's area to standby on the area next but one. 4. Fire Station Limits. You must not order standbys to a station which already has four similar appliance available. 7. METHOD OF OPERATION ---------------------- 1. Dispatching Appliances. One Water Tender is automatically dispatched to each emergency. The Operator will then be shown under the map the number of other appliances he must dispatch. Key the Station Area Number of the emergency until all the required appliances have been dispatched. 2. Deploying Standby Appliances. When you are not dealing with an emergancy you have the option to deploy Standby Appliances. You first key Y and then: - number of dispatching station (0-9) - type of appliance (W, T, R) - number of receiving station (0-9) 8 SCORING SYSTEM ---------------- The scoring system is related to your choice about the level of play and the duration you choose for the simulation to run. Your performance will be monitored and an assessment given at the finish before the high score table is displayed. In order to achieve a 100% score it is necessary to play level 1 for 100 cycles without error. (c)1984 S. Whitmore, G.I. Fire E. Copies of this recording may only be made for the sole use of the purchaser unless written permission is obtained from the publisher. CASES COMPUTER SIMULATIONS LTD., 14 Langton Way, London SE3 7TL