If you’ve ever had the urge to run into a burning building, or maybe wanted to ride on a fire truck, this week's Empire Adventure is for you. Spectrum News 1 anchor Casey Bortnick joined members of the McKownville Volunteer Fire Department in the Capital Region.

From the boots, pants, suspenders, and the jacket you’ve got to have the right gear before you leave the station. The equipment is heavy and meant to protect you. All told, it's like carrying about 45 extra pounds.

Tyler Simpson walked us through the training. He’s been a volunteer fire fighter for five year, he’s also a producer here at Spectrum News 1. After gearing up, they hit the town Guilderland Smokehouse.

"It's simulating what it's actually like in a fire. And as you can see hallways a very important part of this building. Most victims that you're going to find, you're going to find in a hallway,” Simpson said.

The building also features staircases, and crawl spaces all designed to test a fire fighter during a search and rescue mission.

"Stuff like this is going to trip you up in an actual fire, so having stuff like this to simulate stuff like this is very important,” Simpson added.  

Instead of real smoke, the building is filled with water vapor. During training, it's clear the only way to move is on the floor. Since smoke rises, firefighters are taught to crawl on their hands and knees when searching a burning building. Since you can’t see, it’s important to keep in physical contact with the firefighter in front of you and to communicate.  

"It is so foggy in here, you can really see right in front of you and that's about it. So listening to the command and talking to each other is really helpful moving around,” Casey recalled.  

Open houses were held across the state this weekend to promote efforts to recruit new volunteer firefighters. To learn more about your local station or to become one of New York’s bravest, head to the FASNY Recruit NY website.