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Baptism is a holy ordinance ordained of God for the salvation of men. It consists of two parts. The first is immersion in water as a visible, public, and outward sign that a penitent person has come unto Christ, accepted his gospel, and taken our Lord's yoke upon him. The second is immersion in the Spirit through the receipt of the Holy Ghost, which is the invisible, private, and inward witness that lets the penitent person know he has been accepted by the Lord as an heir of salvation. Baptism is thus dual in nature; it is in water and of the Spirit. It is a manifestation before the world and the receipt of an inner and personal peace.
Baptism must -- absolutely, invariably, and always be performed by a legal administrator, or it will have no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead. And it must always, without exception and in every case, be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise or it will not admit the repentant penitent to the celestial kingdom of God. It is the first ordinance of salvation, and it sets the pattern for all others meaning that "all covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations" must also be sealed and ratified by the power of the Spirit or they will not be binding on earth and in heaven.
Source: A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 241 - 242.
To gain salvation every accountable person must receive two baptisms. They are baptism of water and of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit is called the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. By the power of the Holy Ghost -- who is the Sanctifier -- dross iniquity, carnality, sensuality, and every evil thing is burned out of the repentant soul as if by fire; the cleansed person becomes literally a new creature of the Holy Ghost. He is born again.
The baptism of fire is not something in addition to the receipt of the Holy Ghost; rather, it is the actual enjoyment of the gift which is offered by the laying on of hands at the time of baptism. "Remission of sins," the Lord says, comes "by baptism and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost." Those who receive the baptism of fire are "filled as if with fire".
Source: McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966. 73.