“It’s going to be very spectacular for everyone, it’s going to light up the sky.”

That’s what Fire Chief Charles Hood said Friday night about a massive blaze that had an audience to watch, as the soon-to-be graduated cadets from the San Antonio Fire Academy for to show off the skills they have learned over the past five and a half months.

The families of the 28 cadets were invited out to watch them go through a simulated car fire and extraction, and a diesel fuel tank spill. Officials say their families do not often get a chance to see exactly what a firefighter does on a daily basis.

“This give them an opportunity tonight to see what we do, and to understand that it’s very dangerous, but it’s also very calculated and it’s safe,” Chief Hood said about the demonstration.

Hood says 4,000 people apply for the fire academy every year, and only a handful are chosen to go through the program.