A group of Westfield firefighters are on a winning streak. Members of the WFD Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge have placed first at both the Cincinnati and Fishers regional competitions. The group’s focus is on its upcoming competition in Lexington, Ky.
“There are a lot of bigger teams there. It’ll be a good test to see where we are at,” fireman Justin Anderson said.
Fireman Jeremy Devitt said the group practices whether they are on duty or off.
“It’s like our hobby,” he said, adding the team’s ultimate goal is placing at the national competition and competing at the world’s contest.
This is the third year Westfield has had a team participate in the global competition. Team captain Matt Hansen said a group saw the event televised on ESPN and “wanted to try and do it.”
“We went to a competition in Evansville. It was awesome. I fell in love with the camaraderie,” he said.
Hansen said the team practices three hours a day for five or six days a week.
“We all come from a sports background, and I miss competing,” he said.
The challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession’s rigors to the public. Wearing “full bunker gear” and the Scott Air-Pak breathing apparatus, pairs of competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the five-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized 175-pound “victim.”
“We race as individuals and everyone does the whole race,” Hansen said, adding the top three times compile the total team time.
Hansen said there are 15 to 20 regional competitions that attract hundreds of U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments. The world competition later this fall will include teams from New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Chile and South Africa.