It goes without saying that the members of Chestermere Fire Service are a dedicated team that always put their lives in danger for the residents of our community. Giving their all on those long hours they are on shift, you would think that they would take everyone opportunity when they are not working to rest, relax and put their feet up. Well, that was not the case on June 20th and 21st.
For CFS members Wes Beckner, Rob Barchard, Brett Brandon, Nick Stushnoff, Jake Gallinger, Joel Fournie, Jeremy Vitale, there was no rest on this June weekend as they were participating in the Scott FireFit Championships. The Scott FireFit Championships is a competition based on firefighting tasks that are normally performed in emergency situations. There are many different levels of Competitors, from the seasoned veteran to the first time rookies. The FireFit Event is very demanding and a gruelling training regime prior to competition is imperative.
On Monday June 15th, I checked in with the CFS team during one of their training sessions at the Chestermere Fire House. ‘Gruelling’ doesn’t even begin to explain what these guys were putting themselves through. Although they train on a daily basis as part of their normal life, specific training for this competition has been going on for the last 6 – 8 months. They were obviously not taking this lightly.
The CFS team has members participating in both the FireFit Individual and also the FireFit relay. The FireFit Individual event consists of the following tasks in this order:
• Stair Climb – this tasks has the firefighter running up a tower consisting of 40 ft./6 flights, or 60 steps..however you want to measure it. All while carrying on the outside of their shoulder a High Rise Pak, which is a 4 foot bundle of 4 inch hose weighing 42 pounds.
• Hose Hoist – one they get to the top of the tower in task 1, they then hoist a 45 lb Donut Roll of LDH hose which is connected to 5/8″ kern-mantle rope
• Forcible Entry – Using a 9 lb. Trusty Cook shot mallet provided, the competitor pounds on the end of a beam until it moves past a designated marking.
• Run – Competitors then walk or run as fast as he/she can around the hydrants a distance of 140 ft. then shoulders the nozzle end of a 1.75″ fully charged hoseline.
• Hose Advance – he/she shoulders a 1 3/4 inch fully charged hoseline and drags it 75 feet. Once the nozzle crosses the 75 foot mark, the competitor opens the nozzle, hits the designated target with the stream of water, shuts the nozzle and places it on the ground.
• Victim Rescue – firefighters must then get to the 165 lb. Simulaids Rescue Randy mannequin where he must be dragged backwards a distance of 100 ft.
The relay is the same tasks listed in the individual event, just split up amongst four team mates in a relay style.
So how did all this start? In August 1994 the first Canadian National FireFit Competition was held at the Pacific National Exhibition (P.N.E.) in Vancouver. During the 15 days of the P.N.E. approximately 50,000 spectators enjoyed the event.
When that proved to be a huge success, 7 FireFit events were scheduled and held from coast to coast in 1995 with over 715 competitors from more than 105 Fire Departments participating. Brampton was crowned Canadian Champions again in 1995 at the CNE in Toronto, holding onto the title they had won at the P.N.E. the previous year. 1996 saw 7 successful competitions once again, with records broken in every category and Brampton taking the Team Title, for a third time, at the C.N.E. hosted by Toronto. In 1997 there were more events, more competitors and a new Champion Team from the Toronto Fire Dept. at the London Western Fair.
The popularity of the FireFit Competition has been reported to have grown and grown over the past 20 years and visits every Province in Canada. Chestermere did have members that previously participated in this competition when they were still under the umbrella of Rocky View Fire Service. But since becoming Chestermere Fire Service, this is the first team to participate.
So on June 20th and 21st, these seven guys suited up and headed into Calgary for the Southern Prairie Regional leg of the FireFit Championship. After two days of what was likely nothing short of exhausting competition, CFS members Robert Barchard placed 56th with a time of 2:00:73 and Jeremy Vitale placed 79th with a time of 2:24:79 in the individual competition. Fellow teammate and member of CFS, Joel Fournie, commented “Rob and Jeremy did really well for their first time at the individuals. Our relay teams did really well … Got knocked out in the second elimination round but earned some pretty decent times (1:38 as the low). All in all we are really proud of our performance for the first year! We also want to give a huge shout out to our sponsor this year, Fusion Pipe Solutions Inc.”.
Now with this first competition under their belts, as a community we share in their pride for their performance and will always celebrate their day to day acts of heroism. Great job guys!
