Properly following fire extinguishing procedures during fire incidents can be vital, reducing the risk of injuries and potentially preventing loss of life. However, fire extinguishing training can be both costly and time consuming. Virtual Reality fire extinguishing training applications aim to address these issues by providing simulated training, which has shown promising results. An important factor in the effectiveness of these applications is their correspondence to real-world training and the use of actual fire extinguishing equipment. To increase realism, such applications often move to the Augmented Virtuality spectrum, integrating real objects like fire extinguishers as custom controllers into the training experience. This paper presents the results of a comparative between-groups study evaluating the impact of using a purely virtual fire extinguisher versus a custom fire extinguisher controller on users’ perceived usability and realism of a fire extinguishing training application. The study, conducted with 62 participants, highlighted the potential of using such solutions to increase knowledge acquisition but revealed no significant differences regarding usability and realism.