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FireFit racing to Port Moody in April

Port Moody might just be the safest city in British Columbia on the April 28 to 29 weekend.
FireFit
Phillip Lopresti, Andrew McKinlay and Trevor Schmidt (l-r) are Port Moody volunteer firefighters organizing the FireFit competition that will bring 70 t0 100 firefighters from around the Northwest, Alberta and the Yukon to the city to test their brawn, speed and skill against the clock. They're also competing in the event, which will be held at Inlet field April 28 and 29.

Port Moody might just be the safest city in British Columbia on the April 28 to 29 weekend.

That’s when 70 to 100 firefighters from across the province, as well as Alberta, the Yukon and even Washington state will be in town for the first event in the 2018 FireFit championships that alights in 11 cities across Canada, culminating at the national and world final at Spruce Meadows, Alta., Sept. 5 to 9.

And, as organizer Trevor Schmidt, a Port Moody volunteer firefighter said, they won’t just pull you to safety, haul a heavy hose fully-charged with water and lug an oxygen tank up a staircase — they’ll do it quickly.

“It’s the toughest two minutes in sports,” said Phillip Lopresti, another volunteer firefighter who’s part of the local organizing committee.

FireFit is a competitive test of six disciplines firefighters use in emergency situations. It’s a race against the clock to:

• haul a 42-pound hose pack up six flights of stairs; 

• hoist a 45-pound donut roll of hose to the top of a tower; 

• chop their way through a simulated wall with a nine-pound mallet;

• run 140 feet then shoulder a fully-charged 1.75” hose line;

• drag that hose line 75 feet then aim the nozzle at a designated target;

• and drag a 165-pound rescue mannequin backwards 100 feet.

All of the event’s components are raced in full turnout gear, including heavy rubber boots, and competitors are wearing full oxygen masks attached to heavy tanks on their backs.

Schmidt, who’s competed in the event several times in his six years as a volunteer firefighter, said the top competitors can get to the finish line in less than two minutes.

Andrew McKinlay, another FireFit veteran amongst Port Moody’s volunteer firefighters, said it takes more than brawn and speed to be successful, though.

“There’s a technical side to it as well,” McKinlay said. “To be really competitive you have to find ways to shave seconds and half seconds.”

That can come down to practising the technique for climbing the stairs most efficiently to managing the transitions between the various disciplines. Nothing can be left to chance and there’s no time to catch your breath.

“You have to accelerate,” McKinlay said. “You can’t take three or four seconds to rest — that’s the difference between being in fifth or 25th.”

But mostly it’s about enduring pain, Schmidt said.

“There’s a huge mental component,” he said. “You have to push through that pain barrier.”

FireFit started 25 years ago as part of the Pacific National Exhibition. It was so successful a coast-to-coast tour was organized the next year with seven events attracting 715 competitors from more than 105 different fire departments. 

The national championship has been broadcast on TSN, OLN and RDS and the competition has attracted firefighters from as far away as New Zealand, Germany and the Middle East.

McKinlay said the competition is a way for firefighters to test themselves and push each other.

Lopresti said it’s a fun way for firefighters to get to know their community better and for the community to see them at their best in a convivial atmosphere rather than in the stress of an actual emergency situation.

Port Moody’s event, to be held at Inlet field, will include individual competition on Saturday, April 28, team events the next day, as well as a corporate relay challenge where teams from local businesses can get a first-hand appreciation of what it takes to be a firefighter. Proceeds from the latter will go to a local charity.

For more information, including sponsorship opportunities and entries into the corporate challenge, contact info@firefitportmoody.ca.