In the beautiful city of Cape Town, I did some basic firefighter training and I gained a great deal of respect for the heroes that risk their lives every day fighting fires.

Here I am fully kitted up in firefighting gear, including oxygen tank and mask.

This is the test facility where we did our training - the cylinder-shaped section is where the fire is lit, to simulate a burning building.

It's pitch black inside once the doors are closed, but this is what the building looks like on the inside. You can see some of the narrow crawl spaces we had to use to exit and more fires are lit on the left hand side.

This is my group preparing to begin our drill.

We had to work as a team and use a chain to feed the firehose down the hatch on the roof of the building and put out the fires on the bottom floor.

Crawling around in the heat and thick smoke is exhausting and I needed a little help from the instructors getting my mask off.

Of course, it's vital to re-hydrate after a tough training session.

I hope you enjoyed my firefighting adventure. More exciting adventures are coming soon!

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