MINOT (AP) - Minot residents are getting the chance to learn about what it's like to run into a burning building - by actually doing it.

The Minot Fire Department is offering an eight-week Citizens Fire Academy. The once-a-week sessions start Sept. 9.

Capt. Dean Lenertz said the purpose is to inform people about the job.

"Basically, we teach them about the fire department, what the fire department does, all the different jobs that we do," he said. "We let them do a lot of hands-on activities."

They include opening up a fire hydrant, rappelling from a training tower and operating an 85-foot bucket truck.

"One of the nights is vehicle extrication, so we actually let them cut apart a car," Lenertz said. "They can use the Jaws of Life to open up the doors. We let them cut the roof off the vehicle. Basically, we let them use all the tools to extricate somebody from a vehicle accident."

Participants also get firsthand experience with fire.

"We light a fire up at the training grounds and we let them go in and fight the fire," Lenertz said. "They wear the complete gear like we use."

Lenertz said a new "burn building" is nearing completion.

"By the end of September, first part of October, we're going to run them through a 'burn building' so we can light fires in there," he said. "We'll let them go in with self-contained breathing apparatus and all their gear and see what it's like going into a smoky, hot environment where you can't see. They'll be able to take a hose in and put the fire out."

The Fire Department has held other citizen academies in the past. Lenertz said many people aren't aware of the extensiveness of the training that firefighters receive.

"They're very surprised that we have to be trained in so many areas," he said. "From rappelling, search and rescue, confined space rescue, manholes, sewer systems, building collapse, different things like that. Scuba diving, searching in the water under the ice, dealing with hazardous materials.

"Basically any problem that somebody has that they can't deal with themselves, they call the Fire Department," he said.