New York State has nearly 100,000 volunteer firefighters and fire departments across the state. Saturday, for the ninth year in a row, was spent hoping to recruit more.

"It gives the public an opportunity to come and meet their local firefighters, see what it's like to be a firefighter, and hopefully put an application in and join their local fire departments," said Boght Community Fire District 1st Assistant, Chief Jake Oreshan.

Oreshan says it's not as easy to find volunteers as it used to be because people are generally overcome with other things going on.

"People are working two jobs, kids are in soccer, kids are in softball. There's a time commitment and unfortunately volunteerism isn't what it used to be," Oreshan said.

While the recruitment and training process takes about a year, people who stopped by the Boght firehouse on Saturday, had a chance to get a taste of the action — including Spectrum News reporter Erika Leigh, who suited up, crawled through a simulation room, carried a victim, and helped maneuver a hose.

The department hopes that hands on experience gets people interested.

"I've put on the pants, jacket, helmet, air tank," said Ian Salerno of Latham. "It's hot but you gotta do what you gotta do to protect your skin in a burning building."

Salerno is just one of many who stopped by to put in an application, and he's hoping to begin the recruitment and training process.

"I realized I wanted to do something for my community and give back," Salerno said. "I wanted to be a police officer before this but then I realized it wasn't for me, so I thought the next best thing if I wanted to be in emergency service was fire/EMS."

Oreshan says sometimes people are worried about the time commitment, but the fire department has opportunities for everyone.

"If you have time, if you have a desire, even if you think you just might wanna do it, try it," Oreshan said. "We have jobs for everybody. We have administrative positions, we have exterior positions, we have fire police, we'll even take people who just want to drive the fire trucks."