When I was young I got to experience a fire once. I was in the kitchen with my mom going over my spelling words for a test that day when we both noticed out our front window that our neighbors' house was engulfed in flames.

Orange and red flames snarled out the windows and roof. The smoke rolled down our street and everyone was in awe as all of the neighbors made it out alive. A few days later, I was taken through the remains with my father to see just how much the fire had damaged a house I hung out in every single week. The house was unrecognizble–charred from the fire and practically impassable from the debris everywhere.

While this was real life, the training I witnessed last week at the Morris County Police and Fire academy reminded me of that memory from my childhood. I didn't know what to expect going to live burn training, but I admit, I was a little nervous.

Mayor Jordan Glatt had told me that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had to go. So, Friday morning I went to the fire house to get suited up with my own gear and then I headed to Morris Plains to the academy.

I knew it was going to be an interesting experience when I could see the smoke from the training facility from the street leading to the academy. Thankfully, this helped me easily locate the Summit and Millburn firefighters on the premises.

Honestly, just learning how to don all of the gear would have been training enough for one day. First you have to step into the pants which are attached to the boots. Thankfully, the boots have handles on them to stabilize yourself as you get into them. Then, you pull up the pants and put your arms through the suspenders. Then, begins the buckles and clips and belts. Whew.

Next, you put on your hood which will help protect your head and neck under your jacket and helmet. While this sounds easy enough, it's not that easy to tuck a girl's hair into one of these hoods. Clearly, fire fighting is a man's world. I also had to take out my earrings as Millburn training officer Jim Boyle reminded me that metal gets hot near fire.

Once I had my hood on it was time for the jacket, which also requires buttons and clips. At this point I was sweating pretty heavily and was wondering if I should have brought a change of clothes.

Now comes the hard part. I don't think I could have put on my air bottle by myself without the help of at least three firefighters. They graciously humored me while we hoisted this thing on my back, helped me tighten all the straps to keep it in place and then helped me suction my mask to my face.

This was also not easy for me since, as the fire fighters told me, my face was a little small for the mask. But after a few tries we got it to properly seal around my face. If we had not done this, I would surely have gotten a leak and would have been breathing in smoke.

After the mask was secure, we pulled up my hood and connected the nozzle so I could breathe. The best part about the air bottle isn't even the breathing part, it's the fact that it keeps your face cool. Then after putting on my helmet and gloves I was ready to experience the training.

One other minor detail: the fire fighters explained to me that each air bottle is equipped with a life alert system which beeps if a fire fighter stops moving. While this is incredibly helpful to alert fire fighters if another member is injured and not moving, for me, this was probably the hardest part: remembering to move every few seconds so I didn't set off my alarm.

While the experience of the training was fascinating in every way, the scariest–or shall I say the most disorientating part–was not being able to see through the smoke.

It's amazing to one minute see literally nothing but blackness in front of you and the next, look through the thermal imaging camera and see a half dozen fire fighters less than 5 feet from you! It is surprising to me that they don't trip and fall all over each other just trying to get around inside burning buildings. This exercise involved a basement fire and I couldn't help but wonder how the firefighters didn't fall down the stairs from lack of visibility.

But somehow these incredibly well-trained men get in the building, down the stairs and put out the fire, all without being able to see and in some of the most extreme conditions I know I'll ever experience.

One of the fire fighters kept asking me if I was hot. Honestly, I was sweating but it just felt like a really hot day at Great Adventure and you're wearing too many layers. The more disturbing part was how hard it was to hear him asking me this and other questions. How fire fighters communicate while inside the building is partially a miracle. The lead fire fighter can often have a voice amplifier on his or her mask but even still, we had to literally smash our helmets together just to talk.

I had an incredible day at the Morris County Police and Fire Academy with the Summit and Millburn fire fighters. Not only did they jump at the chance to teach me anything and everything they could during my visit, we had a good time but made sure everyone was safe. I will never forget the experience I had. Or the fact that it took three days to wash the fire smell out of my hair.