Firefighter-Paramedic Jimmy Guenther and Station # 2 Lt. Brian Drew participated in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge held at the SC Firefighters Association Conference in Myrtle Beach on 11-June. According to the Scott FFCC website, the Challenge annually attracts hundreds of U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments at more than 25 locations and is now expanding to countries around the world, including New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Chile, and South Africa. The Challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession's rigors to the public.
Wearing "full bunker gear" and the SCOTT Air-Pak breathing apparatus, pairs of competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. "victim" as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.
Guenther participated in an individual competition and then ran a tandem meet with Drew. The pair placed sixth out of thirteen in the tandem competition. This was their first time completing. Both plan to continue training to improve their performance for future competitions.Captain Scott Feather, who serves as the Training Officer for CCFR, instructed a presentation titled "First 5 - Street Perspectives for Incident Command." The presentation was developed by Feather and discusses practical incident command for structure fires and the associated strategies, tactics, and tasks. Feather's presentation drew over 50 participants from across the southeast. The class was very interactive and Feather received a standing ovation at its conclusion.
