Firefighters from around Parkland County gathered Tuesday evening for a friendly competition in Acheson. The inaugural Battle for the Bell – named after a bell that was removed from an old firetruck and made into a trophy – was meant to bring together and continue fostering a family spirit amongst the firefighters that work across one of the province’s largest rural municipalities, said organizer Lt. Remington Lacroix. “One of the things we do every once in a while (for) our skills maintenance is we like to have a fitness event, but most of our fitness events are just basically CrossFit, doing a punch of squats, doing a lot of deadlifts. It’s not for everyone,” he explained. “I decided to come up with a more of a firefighters competition. We’re going to be implementing a lot of firefighter movement instead of people using their fancy gym muscles. We’re actually going to use firefighter muscles. I also wanted to make it a little bit more fun, invoke some teamwork because with the fire department, everything is about teamwork.” Seven four-person teams competed in an 1800s-style bucket brigade, stretcher relay, high ball roll, hose drag, and tower relay. Meanwhile, three crews remained ready to respond to emergencies. Lacroix said it is especially important to foster team spirit heading into recruitment season, which starts Sept. 1. “We need everyone…. We do everything here: we go to structure fires, we do vegetation (fires), wildland fires, medical calls. You name it, we got it.” The event also collected donations for the Parkland Food Bank. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell
