Time Out Grant Recipient to Develop Virtual Training Tools for Wildland Firefighters
Samantha Orient ’05, who grew up in Idaho, where wildfires are a destructive reality each summer, has been involved in wildland fire management since she graduated from high school. She worked as a firefighter for seven seasons on engine and helicopter crews before moving to fire dispatch, risk management, and accident investigations.
Orient plans to develop a mobile application that will act as an interactive 3D teaching tool related to the Waterax MARK-3 Pump and the MARK-3 Watson Edition Pump, two types of portable water pumps used by wildland firefighters. She had already pitched the idea of the mobile application to various funding sources, but according to Orient, “without something concrete to show, interest will wane. It’s easy to dismiss a project like this as being too ambitious.”
When Orient read about Vassar’s Time Out Grant, she knew it was a remarkable opportunity and chose to apply. The Time Out Grant committee chose Orient’s project out of 150 applications because they felt it exemplified the spirit of the grant—to inspire an alum to pursue an original, bold interest project or business that could innovate the world around them.
Orient explained that app users will be able to virtually disassemble the pump to view it from every angle, allowing them to learn the ins and outs of the device. Some firefighters are kinesthetic or visual learners who may not have enough hands-on training equipment due to expense or scarcity. She hopes to expand the app to include other tools firefighters regularly use, including chainsaws. With the Time Out Grant, Orient will be able to use her skills to innovate portable water pump training, as a start.
After graduating from Vassar, Orient kept returning to work for federal land management agencies as she pursued a graduate degree in biomedical communications, where she learned video editing, 2D and 3D animation, and virtual environments. These skills allowed her to join the disparate worlds of firefighting and tech.
“I can’t say enough about how stressful it is in the fire community right now. The fire season has increasingly gotten worse over the last 20 years. It’s year-round. They’re losing people with years of experience. You cannot replace that knowledge, but maybe you can put effective tools into firefighters’ hands.” And, with a population of firefighters retiring or looking for jobs with better pay and work/life balance, less-experienced firefighters need essential training.
“It’s about trying to get tools like this in place where you aren’t relying on someone who’s been in the position a little longer than you to know what’s going wrong with a pump or what is happening with a chainsaw,” Orient said. “To have something that’s vetted by the manufacturer and follows training recommendations, something that is easily adoptable by the generation that’s coming in. They have actual computers in their pockets; Why not leverage that to make the job safer?”
Funded by an anonymous alum, the Time Out Grant provides an alum 35 years and older with $150,000 to pursue a dream project. The grant-making criteria has recently changed to make the award more accessible. Now, alums no longer have to take leave from their jobs, and the grant will be awarded every other year. The last Time Out Grant was awarded in 2022 to Irene López ’91, who started a program for survivors of gender-based violence, training them to document their experiences through photography and engage in reflection.
The next Time Out Grant will be awarded in spring 2026. Applications will open in fall/winter 2025. Visit vassar.edu/alums/timeout for more information.