Dozens of local firefighters strapped on oxygen tanks, masks and other gear to race one another in a timed firefighter challenge for bragging rights and the chance to go to the national championship.
Members of the Bellevue Fire Department hosted the event at the Marketplace at Factoria on Saturday, July 11. Teams from around the region, including Seattle, Mercer Island, British Columbia and Alaska, competed.
“The mission of the challenge is to promote and showcase the talents, skills, and athleticism of America’s firefighter heroes,” Scott Safety Firefighter Combat Challenge organizers said in a press release.
During the Firefighter Combat challenge, male and female firefighters had to climb five flights of stairs with a 42 pound hose before hoisting another 42 pound hose up to the top of the tower. After running back down the stairs, competitors simulate a forcible entry by driving a 160 pound steel beam a distance of five feet.
Each firefighter then races a 140 foot obstacle course, the latter half of which requires them to drag a fire hose and shoot a target. They finally must drag a 175 pound dummy 100 feet to the finish line.
All this generally takes place in the span of one to three minutes. The world record is one minute and 19 seconds, according to Challenge records.
The race came from an idea from former firefighter and paramedic Dr. Paul Davis. The first challenge was held in 1991. Decades later, thousands of firefighters now compete in the challenge every year at more than 20 locations across the country.
