By Andres Amerikaner
The Miami Herald
Copyright 2007 The Miami Herald
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
MIAMI, Fla. — When the three firemen burst into the auditorium at Miami Dade College Thursday, "Hulk Hogan" and 'Randy 'Macho Man' Savage" were duking it out in the ring, surrounded by a cheering crowd, pulsating music and flashing lights.
Amid the chaos, the firefighters swiftly searched for a man who had been stabbed, one of three life-or-death situations facing them.
Thankfully, none of it was real.
The chaos was staged, but for a purpose, part of the seventh annual Randy Boaz Memorial Advanced Life Support Competition, where three-member teams of paramedics and students from around South Florida square off in a simulation intended to assess their real-life emergency skills.
The faster they saved patients, the better. This year, their skills were put to the test against the backdrop of a raucous wrestling match.
"This makes you prepared for everything," said Carlos Otero, a firefighter with the Miramar Fire Department who was impersonating Randy Savage. "I will definitely need to take some Advil when I get home."
The simulations keep participants on their toes. One time, it involved a shooting at a bingo hall. Another, a house ravaged by a hurricane.
But nothing like this year.
Starting at 9 a.m., 12 teams took their turn in preparation for a national competition in Orlando this month.
All they were told is that there's someone hurt inside the auditorium.
Capt. Alex Fernandez of the City of Miami Fire Department was all business before the door was opened.
"One person talks," he told the two other members of his team, Lt. Robert Hevia and firefighter Gil Navarro.
"I hear actors say they always get a little nervous before going onstage," said Hevia, who has participated in the event every year. "It's the same thing."
Inside the arena, as Hevia walked past, a desperate mother jumped out, saying her son, played by 7-year-old Jaydin Babb, was choking.
Babb stretched out on the floor, eyes firmly closed, mouth gaping open.
Fernandez and Navarro pressed on, finding a man who had been stabbed twice, in the chest and the abdomen.
Behind them, Hulk Hogan's manager got hit in the head by a chair. He was on the floor, unable to feel his arms or legs. Navarro ran to assist him.
"It's a little overwhelming at first, but after a while you get into the rhythm," said Navarro, who participated in the competition for the first time.
By the end, three lives were saved, and the three firefighters were sweating profusely.
"With all the noise and stuff, it really puts them under the gun," said Carlos Eguiluz, a Coral Gables firefighter who played Hulk Hogan -- dressed up in a blond wig and mustache, red bandanna, red boots and yellow tights. "Our job is to entertain and be part of the scenario."
Top honors went to the Boca Raton Fire Rescue team. The Florida Medical Training Institute took second, and Miami third.
The event is named after the late Randy Boaz, a paramedic with the city of Miami who helped shape emergency medical services in Miami-Dade County. All money collected goes to a scholarship named in his honor.
"They just top themselves every year," said Boaz's daughter, Annie Durham. "They put their whole heart and body into it, that's for sure."
