AMHERST – Instead of battling fires, firefighters battled each other during the inaugural Joggins firefighter competition held recently outside the Joggins fire hall.
An obstacle course that featured hitting a target with a stream of water from a fire hose, climbing a ladder, using a sledge hammer, pulling a concrete block, and dragging a dummy 30 feet was tackled by competitors from Joggins, Amherst, Advocate and River Hebert.
“Pulling the concrete block was the toughest part of the course,” said Mark Goodwin, who had the fastest time. “It was a tough challenge. A lot of thought went into building the course and it was a lot of fun.”
Al Murray, who finished a little under a second behind Goodwin, might have finished first if not for the extra step he took on the ladder.
“If I ran the course again that is definitely a mistake I wouldn’t make a second time,” Murray said.
He also thought the concrete block was the toughest part.
“There’s a little hump there in the middle that you have to pull the block over,” Murray said. “So that can be tough.”
Many firefighters also had trouble dragging the 195-pound dummy for a distance of 30 feet.
“It has a lot to do with technique,” Goodwin said. “You have to get him up and lean back so it takes the weight off your arms, because that can really kill you.”
Goodwin volunteers for the Amherst Fire Department and competes in firefighter combat challenges throughout Eastern Canada.
“Conditioning is a big part of it because you have to be able to breathe,” he said. “This one (Joggins) is a little bit more upper body than what you have at the firefighter challenge in Halifax where you run a five-storey tower first. In Halifax, your legs are shot by the time we get to Randy (the dummy).”
Joggins deputy fire chief Laurie Melanson spent six weeks organizing the event, and he also ran the course.
When asked what the toughest part was, he said, “the whole thing.”
He said it was good to see fire departments coming out for the event and hopes it grows next year.
Fire protection services coordinator for the region, Jim Triff, agrees.
“It shows a lot of initiative and imagination on the part of Joggins fire department and hopefully this will carry on and other departments will do likewise,” Triff said. “The co-operation between the fire departments has been great.”
