SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Sen. Joe Donnelly tried his hand at being a firefighter on Tuesday.

He visited the South Bend Fire Safety Training Center as part of "Donnelly Day."

Sen. Donnelly spent an hour participating in training exercises in the complex which opened last year.

He says it's important for everyone to know how much of an asset to firefighters are to the community.

“The big takeaway for me is the amazing challenges our firefighters have to go through, going up these ladders, being in rooms that are incredibly dangerous, and they go in the rooms willingly because they want to save our lives, they want to save their community,” said Sen. Donnelly.

After visiting the training complex, Sen. Donnelly headed down to Knox, visiting "Hoosier Custom Plastics", where he assembled medical devices and worked on the molding floor.