I had a "super saturday" training last weekend. For those that aren't familiar, its a training that's about 8 hours long and covers every single required training topic, all in one shot. Well, they had a couple local volunteer fire dept. members cover fire & safety topics, and we got to use a fire extinguisher on a real controlled fire. I have never used one before and really wanted to try. I was super nervous at first. The fire was burning propane so it was hotter standing in front of it, than a normal house fire would be. It was actually quite easy putting it out, which gave me a huge confidence boost... Like conquering a fear of sorts. Less than half our group wanted to try the extinguisher though, which surprised me. My thoughts were that they should've tried, incase it ever should happen, they would have a little experience in putting a fire out. But those that were too nervous to try, said that they don't mess with fire and would gather the kids and get out, not try to fight the fire first. Understandable. I found all the different opinions interesting! Has anyone ever used an extinguisher before?

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