New Zealand Fire Service: Escape My House

FCB New Zealand has launched a technology first in partnership with the New Zealand Fire Service. Escape My House is an immersive and gripping interactive experience that takes place inside a real house fire. New Zealanders are being given the chance to experience an actual house fire, and challenged to escape. Through interactive 360 video, with a virtual reality (VR) option, the user steps into the lounge to find a small fire has started on a clothing rack, left too close to the heater. What looks manageable is, in fact, already out of control – you have seconds to get out. Through completing the experience, users learn why they need an escape plan. Since "Escape My House" launched on Wednesday 22 May, 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. It has gone beyond New Zealand and has also been accessed by Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Taiwan and the United States. The project demonstrates in a very tangible way the need for Kiwi households to be prepared for a fire. We’ve been told for years that fire is fast, it’s disorienting and terrifying. We’ve been told that, to make it out alive, we need to plan. But so many people don’t have this in place. Less than one third of New Zealand households have a detailed escape plan.