Firefighter Challenge

Last night at fire practice we all donned the turnout gear and breathing apparatus and ripped through an obstacle course until we ran out of air. As masochistic as that sounds, it was really fun and enlightening. The idea is to see how much work you can do with a full air cylinder before it (or you) run out of gas.

The course was to:

• climb the 35' teetering, wobbling, 3 fly extension ladder to the top of the hose tower
• climb down a smaller ladder to get to the regular roof.
• haul a section of 2 1/2" hose up to the roof
• climb down the roof to a 14" ladder
• climb down that ladder to the truck bay roof
• climb down another extension ladder to get to the ground
• take 12 chops of an axe on a log
• haul a charged hoseline 100 feet
• haul "Rescue Randy" (175 pounds) 70 feet

Then you rest for 2 minutes, and do it all again. Repeat until out of air.

It's not really a competition but the numbers are all posted at the end. I finished 4th. I almost made it around 4 times but my low air alarm sounded just as I picked up the hose. If I could've squeaked another 45 seconds out of it I would've completed that last circuit.

Thanks to Jer for the pictures. That's me hauling hose and carrying the always ready Randy.