Me! Me! I have! ME!
Tonight I got to have one of the coolest experiences of my life!
Zach works at UFRA (Utah Fire and Rescue Academy) and was able to use his charm, and my good looks, to convince a few of the fire captains to let me go in a "burn".
There was TONS of gear to put on.
Boots, pants, suspenders, jacket, hood, helmet, gloves, mask, and the air tank.
That right there was my definite sign that I could NEVER be a fire fighter, I could NEVER get all of that equipment on in less than a minute.
My boots were 3 sizes to big and it was so hard to try and walk in them.
Let me explain a little more about why we were lighting a building on fire. At UFRA they teach firefighters and train them. And how else do you train someone to fight fires... but to actually light things on fire! So a few times a week they "burn" to teach them different situations.They usually light the "Tuna Can" a lot to teach about house and building fires. The tuna can is a two story building made completely out of metal so they can reuse it. They also have fake cars, dumpsters, trains and all sorts of fun stuff. The yard reminds me of several "end of the world" movies I have seen.
Tonight we surprised the students with a burn, to throw them off guard and see how they respond.
I went inside with one of the instructors named, Matt. We took piles of excelsior inside the building and Matt showed me around in the dark with only the small light of a flair. We lit the building and waiting inside while the instructors outside paged all units to the house fire. Zach waited outside, counting the minutes until I was "saved"
I think the look on my face says it all. Scared but really excited.
After the fire we were cooling off. It got to over 600 degrees in there! Wow!
