The Paul Smith’s-Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department does its annual radio communications training at the Great Adirondack Corn Maze, located at Tucker Farms in Gabriels, and created and run by department Chief Tom Tucker with his brothers Jim and Steve. The maze contains miles of trails carved into 8 acres of corn, with eight mailboxes holding map pieces hidden among the stalks.

Here’s how the training worked: Two members of a four-person team would go in and began picking their way along the winding, squiggly and disorienting paths — which comprise an illustration of an astronaut and a space shuttle, only visible from above.

The other two members of the team would stay back at the barn, armed with a map, a radio and their communication skills — their only tools to guide their teammates to the mailboxes.

Tom Tucker said this was the eighth year his department has done this unconventional training.

This year’s Great Adirondack Corn Maze, in Gabriels, was designed by artist Shane McIntosh. (Provided photo — Chad Quinn)

Sam Branch, a three-year department member, said the training is good for both Paul Smith’s College students new to firefighting skills and seasoned members needing a refresher on how to communicate over the radio.

“It simulates going into a building and trying to give directions off of a blueprint,” Branch said.

The maze is filled with intersections with multiple exits, dead ends, loops and a few boulders as landmarks.

“It starts out as chaos as each of the teams start to figure out how to communicate,” Tom Tucker said.

He said it takes a team on average two hours to find all eight map pieces. After the interior squad finds four, the exterior team with the map guides them back out, and they swap. Their map, unlike the ones given to regular maze attendees, has the mailbox locations marked.

Branch said his team did “OK.” They found seven of the eight boxes and took a couple of hours to do it. He said it gives a sense of how important clear communication is.

“Make it short, make it concise, get to the point, and get off the radio,” Branch said. “It’s fun, but I hope they (learn) how to use radios and how to properly communicate.”

Tucker and Branch said they saw the teams improving as the night went on, learning how to guide each other through the corn.