Hazard pay?

FARMINGTON — The normal warning signs for people don't apply to firefighters. Take smoke, for example. If you see smoke pouring out of a home, you generally don't try to go in.

But firefighters don't care. See, they have breathing masks, helmets, protective gear and massive hoses.

And they had me. But I didn't help. I just got to watch.

The Farmington Fire Department is burning down a couple of homes on purpose this week for training, and because I was writing this story, they let me tag along.

Here's what I looked like:

The boots were too small, but everything else was quite comfy. And it's hard to explain what a relief it is to breathe pure, clean air when your vision is obscured by thick smoke. But I saw first-hand why you crawl below the smoke layer if your home catches fire.

You know how the movies show firefighters, or whoever the hero is, charging into an engulfed building? Not. When firefighters go into a smoky home, sometimes they have to crawl in. And we spent a lot of time on our knees.

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When I was playing fireman on Wednesday with these guys, they let me come inside the home they were training in for three fires: a basement, a bedroom and a garage. It was pure awesomeness. And I actually thought, "I could do this."

I would love creeping through a house and watching the fire's behavior — its animal-like appetite, the way it breathes — and then putting it out because water beats fire. But these guys are also EMTs and I don't really want to save people. (It's the intubating that bothers me.)

But I loved being there for the beginning of the garage fire and to see how an aerosol can explodes when it gets too hot. I loved watching flames lick the vaulted ceiling and creep toward where we were standing. The next two pictures show inside and outside the garage afterward.

During one of the interior fires on the upper floor of the home, Rich Love, the department's training officer, pointed to the window behind us and said if things get too hot, that's the window we'd be jumping out of. I told him I didn't think that would be too fun.

But he said it's better than dying. So my mind was on that as the flames leapt out of the bedroom across the hall from us and over our heads. The firefighters in the hallway put it out easily, but it was eerie to see and feel the soggy insulation raining down on us.

The Farmington Fire Department is mostly made up of volunteers, and some of them don't get much fire experience. So training like this is critical to show the newer guys how fire behaves so they can protect their city.

I pretty much reeked of smoke after a few turns of being inside the burning rooms. But I swear something there smelled like toasted marshmallows.

When I told Marie what I was doing for work, she made me promise to call her as soon as I was done, as long as I wasn't calling from the hospital or from the grave.

I think she said she would be mad if I got hurt. But once I assuaged those concerns, I had time to reflect on the previous few hours. And I came to one other conclusion: I love my job.