Friendly competition...

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity once again to photograph fire fighters in action. Although this time there were no burning buildings involved, but there were a LOT more fire fighters! Union County had it's annual Fire Fighter Competition held at the fire training grounds in Monroe. It was quite an enjoyable day - freezing cold, but enjoyable none the less! Departments from all around the county got teams together and competed in 3 different events:

The Draft Attack - Teams had to put on their gear, charge the lines and then proceed to knock down 4 cones out of 4 windows.



Rescue Me - Teams had to simulate the rescue of a fallen fire fighter. 1 man was trapped, 2 guys with blindfolds had to follow the hose line and replace his air pack, and 2 other guys had to follow the same line and carry him back to the finish line.



The Bucket Brigade - This one's pretty self explanatory - fill the buckets to fill an even bigger bucket.



There was also and individual triathalon event that in my opinion was really a decathalon! Competitors had to put on all their gear, carry and air tank up 2 flights of stairs, hoist a hose attached to a rope up 2 stories, run back down the stairs (hitting every step), pull a charged hose 100 ft (approx) to a window, knock over the cone, go pick up Rescue Randy and drag him 25 feet back to the finish line.



At the end of the day they did a "surprise" event which just so happened to be my favorite :o) I don't know what it's called but basically there are 2 teams with hoses and whoever gets the barrel on the other teams side when the time is up is the winner. I remember watching this when I was a little kid. (It was my favorite then too!)


You can see ALL of the pictures from that day if you go here:Union County Fire and Rescue Competition