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DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Thousands of firefighters are preparing for one of the most demanding tests of skill and strength the fire service has to offer — the FireFighter Combat Challenge.
The annual event, now in its 16th year, got under last Friday at Deerfield Beach in Florida.
This year’s tour will travel to 21 locations, bringing together more than 3,000 firefighters from about 600 U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments before the world championships in Las Vegas in November.
Organizers have added a new element to the 2007 competition — the CPR quality challenge, which aims to highlight the work and skills of first responders.
It has been modeled after the FCC itself, and will take place at five venues before being rolled out across all legs next year.
| CPR Quality Challenge The inaugural FCC CPR Quality Challenge is designed to help rescuers train to deliver high quality and more effective CPR by measuring chest compressions rates and depths in relation to American Heart Association guidelines. The guidelines emphasize the importance of performing high quality CPR to improve the outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest. Evidence shows that chest compression rates within the range of 80 to 110 compressions per minute and compression depths within the range of 1½ and 2 inches significantly enhance CPR quality and event outcomes. Competitors in the challenge will administer CPR to training mannequins, and compression rates and depths are measured and recorded on 2005 AHA Guidelines Compliant AED/CPR monitoring equipment. |
The expansion of FCC events is not just confined to the United States. This year, the FCC debuted for the first time in South Africa and New Zealand.
The expansion of FCC events is not confined to the United States. This year, the FCC debuted for the first time in South Africa and New Zealand.
Paul Davis, president of OnTarget Communications, which organizes the FCC, said he hopes the event will expand even further.
Last year, the FCC held events in Argentina, and Davis said they had also received interest from Peru, Belgium, Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom.
“It’s going to take time to get these international events up and running, but we have every reason to believe that within five years the world championships will be expanded significantly,” said Davis.
The goal of the FCC, said Davis, is to encourage firefighter fitness, increase public awareness of the rigors the job entails and celebrate the work of firefighters.
Competitors wear full bunker gear and Scott Air-Pak breathing apparatus to simulate true work conditions.
The course is comprised of five events:
• A five-story portable tower, which competitors must sprint up while carrying a 42-pound hose.
• The fire hose hoist, which requires a 42-pound “doughnut roll” hose to be lifted from the bottom of the tower via a rope pull.
• The Keiser “Force Machine” — a forcible entry chopping simulator that allows competitors to move a 160-pound steel beam a horizontal distance of 5-feet by striking the beam with a 9-pound shot mallet.
• A “fire plug” slalom course requires entrants to bob and weave over a distance of 140-feet, before picking up the nozzle end of a fully-charged hose line, dragging 75-feet and firing a water stream at a target.
• The “victim rescue,” where Simulaid’s 175-pound Rescue Randy mannequin has to be dragged 100-feet.
“This course pushes the best firefighters in the world to their physical limits,” said a FCC spokesperson.
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The tour dates for the FCC are:
Deerfield Beach, Fla. 5/18-19
Carlsbad, N.M. 6/2-3
Altoona, Wis. 6/8-9
Brandon, Miss. 6/15-16
Lowell, Mass. 6/23-24
Venue TBC. 6/29-30
Seattle 7/7-8
San Diego 7/14
Westminster, Colo. 7/28
Fremont, Calif. 8/4-5
Lexington, Ky. 8/11-12
Omaha, Neb. 8/18-19
Sioux Falls, S.D. 8/24-25
Tyler, Texas 8/31-9/1
Milwaukee, Wis. 9/7-8
Elkton, Md. 9/15
Gainesville, Fla. 9/22-23
Evansville, Ind. 9/29-30
Akron, Ohio 10/5-6
Atlanta 10/12-13
Las Vegas 11/4-8
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