Normally when you see a firefighter fully dressed in their equipment it usually means they are off to fight a fire or help someone in need. Over the next few days in Fredericton residents will see fully dressed firefighters, but they won’t be fighting fires. They will be battling amongst themselves to show off their firefighting skills as part of the FireFit Canadian National and World Championships. Dale McRoberts has been a part of the event since it first began 33 years ago, which he says first started as a firefighter hiring test in Vancouver. “It caught on big time because everybody wanted to see what is Vancouver versus Edmonton versus Winnipeg versus Fredericton and Halifax,” says McRoberts. Hosted next door to the Fredericton Delta Hotel, McRoberts says around 500 firefighters are competing from all different corners of Canada. He also says there is a team and a squad of FireFit competitors from Europe. Firefighters competing are first dressed head to toe in their bunker gear, complete with an oxygen mask and helmet and are then put out onto the course. They are then given a heavy load to carry over their shoulder up six flights of stairs, similar to how firefighters would carry heavy equipment with them into a fire. Once they reach the top of the tower, they again must pull up a heavy load using a rope, like they were leaning out a window of a structure fire to haul up more equipment. Competitors then hit a weight with a hammer to imitate the sensation of chopping down walls or doors in a fire, before running to one end of the course to grab a hose, hit a target and then end by dragging a 175-pound mannequin to safety. “It’s a tough, tough event, and some people are out here to see if they can do it,” says McRoberts. “Here at our national championships now, we’re racing to see how we place amongst all of the rest of the Canadian firefighters.” Among the competitors was Misha Maric, a firefighter out of Whitby, Ont., who has been taking part in the competitions since 2017. She admits while the run of the course itself takes no more than three minutes, competitors are both mentally and physically exhausted by the end. “It’s like super addicting, but it also is like terrible,” she says, noting the stair challenge off the top is her least favourite part of competing. “You feel terrible at the end.” When asked what fuels the addiction that leads to a terrible feeling, Maric says it’s the fellow firefighters who are pulling to see one another do their best that keeps her coming back. “I’ve made friends all over Canada, and all over the world and it’s just cool,” Maric says. “Every year there’s new people coming out and you’re always willing to help them.” The sentiment is similar for St. Catherines, Ont., firefighter Darryl Amos. He also notes the quality of competition amongst his fellow Canadians is second to none. “It never gets easy,” he says having done the course around 90 times in his life. “You get faster and then you just want to push harder the next time to beat your time.” Fredericton Assistant Deputy Fire Chief Craig Harnum says the force has been a key competitor in the event since it first began in the 1990s. He says it not only allows firefighters to test themselves, but it also gives residents a chance to see their first responders in a more relaxed light while also displaying their top-notch abilities. “A lot of older firefighters that are still competing are out here training,” Harnum says. “Even though they may not be on the course this week, they’re here pushing their younger firefighters to be better. [There’s] a lot of new recruits less than a year with Fredericton Fire actually competing on the course today, so it’s great to see that torch being passed and the tradition living on.” “This makes us better firefighters,” McRoberts believes. “It gets us in control in those hostile environments. We’ve been here before, we’ve been tired before, we can’t lift something, and we have to rescue a fellow firefighter. This is a good test for us, and I think people come out of the event stronger.” Qualifying events continue Wednesday and Thursday, with official individual and team competitions beginning Friday and continuing into the weekend. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
