Although it was definitely a real fire, it wasn’t all that dangerous.

My Citizens’ Fire Academy classmates and I, after an hour-long lecture on how to use fire extinguishers, were ushered outside to try out the extinguishers on a real fire.

The fire was behind the Bedford Safety Complex and there were trained professional firefighters there.

The flames were contained in a small, charred metal barrel.

It might not seem like much, putting out a small fire when the fire extinguishers were right there and ready to go, but we were all excited – or at least I was.

We were told it would be easy: all you had to do is remember the P.A.S.S. method, said instructor Gary Pariseau, a Manchester firefighter and Bedford’s parttime health inspector.

“You’re going to pull the pin. You’re going to aim it at the fire. You’re going to squeeze the handle and then you’re going to sweep it across the base of the fire. So, when your kitchen’s on fire, all you have to remember is pass, pass, pass, pass,” Pariseau said.

Sure, I could remember that.

I waited until most everyone else had their turn and when I was up, I chose the ABC extinguisher. There are a few kinds, but this is the almost all-purpose one. I chose that model because it was certain to put the flames out.

I stepped up to the fiery plate.

Firefighter Moe Mailhot acted as a buffer, staying in between me and the flame. And firefighter Gail Gullo, using a road flare that was duct taped to a metal pole, restarted the fire.

The extinguisher wasn’t heavy and, when I positioned myself and squeezed the handle, I didn’t get any sort of kickback.

I didn’t realize it until then, but, for some reason, I had it in my head that it would be much like shooting a shotgun.But, it wasn’t anything at all like that.

It was easy and smooth. The whiteness just serenely poured out of the nozzle and easily squashed out the flames. It only took a few seconds.

It was kind of relaxing, not anything like the backdrafts and flash fires I had been hearing about the hour before. But I guess all firefighting isn’t that easy -- not all fires are contained in barrels behind a fire station.

As I put down the extinguisher, I thought of Pariseau joking, “Again, it doesn’t give you a warm and fuzzy feeling when you look up and the flames are over you.”

I think it takes a special kind of person to think that’s funny, an I’ll stick with the barrel, I thought.

At last week’s class -- the third of six -- we were also given steps to follow if there’s a fire at home.

First call 911, then notify your family to get out of the house.

“You want to react upon discovery of fire or smoke. The fire is not just going to go away if you don’t put it out,” Pariseau said.

A fire will double in size every two minutes, so should you stay to fight a fire in your own kitchen?

The guidelines that Pariseau went through said, “Do not attempt to fight a fire unless you are OSHA-certified in use of a fire extinguisher.”

If you do decide to get out, make sure all the doors are closed. This will confine the fire so it’s not fed by oxygen in the wind blowing into the house.

“It’s all going to be up to you what your comfort level is. If you don’t feel like you want to fight the fire, then don’t fight the fire. Get out. That’s our job,” Capt. Mark Klose said.

But, he said, it’s not always that simple. Many people decide to fight a house fire or try to get their belongings out and get trapped inside.

“I don’t really have an answer for you. It’s your house. It’s your property. But the biggest thing is, you have to make sure you notify 911 and get us there,” Klose said.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go out and buy myself a fire extinguisher. And, I think I’ll bring another back to my parents in Rhode Island.