On Wednesday I got to play with fire. Well, a fire truck. Well, go up in the basket of a fire truck. But that was still pretty cool. At the Dubuque Regional Training Centre, they have a purpose-built facility for police, fire, ambulance and emergency management to train together, including a fire training house which is set up with a fire simulation engine that is computer-controlled. It allows the trainer to set up endless different scenarios, add smoke, and control the flames. The house is configured for different types of rescue, and the computer-controls means that the trainer can step back through the program and the trainees can try again if they don't get it right. I didn't get the chance to dress up as a fireman and have a go battling flames, but that's probably a good thing. No, the hardest thing I had to do was try not to crack jokes about toasting marshmallows in the training house, or the great BBQs they must have. Something tells me they've already heard those jokes before. And I really struggled so hard not to crack that joke, I think I strained my funny bone!