Pump competition is all about camaraderie, fun

Chris Abbott

Editor

Norfolk County’s Station 6 hosted the annual Norfolk County Firefighters Pump Competition in Courtland Saturday.

“It’s good just to get all the families together, one more thing for all of us to do,” said Captain Adam Ryde, Station 6 Courtland, at the Courtland Lions Community Park. “Get all the members of the department that often don’t see each other to kind of come together and just have some fun.”

Firefighters from Norfolk’s Courtland, Vittoria, St. Williams, Port Dover, and Fairground stations, and SWOX - Brownsville (Oxford County) competed in four events – pump, water barrel, bucket relay race and truck pull.

“These are not the same drills that we use on the fire ground, but it’s team building and teamwork,” said Ryde. “Even just the communication is big. Advancing hose lines, there’s a lot of little things that can help us in the fire services. And if nothing else, it’s a day of exercise to keep us moving.”

With food trucks and children’s activities on site, the pump competition is truly a family event.

“Firefighting is a family, 100 per cent. It’s not just us responding, it’s the families that have to deal with us leaving, or not being there. It’s definitely a full family thing, so any time we can get everybody together… it’s nice to get everybody involved.

“And the more people we can get involved, the more people see it, then the more people will want to participate in the future.”

Captain Brad Easter, South-West Oxford Fire and Emergency Services – Brownsville said the firefighters most enjoy the camaraderie.

“It’s bringing people together,” said Easter. “We get to see familiar faces that we’ve seen through training and sometimes mutual aid calls. It’s a different circumstance to meet people. Today, it’s more about fun.”

The competition allows them to use some of their firefighting skills in a different manner – without the pressure, he said. Their pride may be on the line, and bragging rights – they keep track of the results and hand out trophies – but it’s all ‘in the family.’

“You want to be the best, that’s part of who we are,” Ryde smiled. “It’s a lot of fun, but there’s definitely a rivalry too.”

“I think everybody takes most pride in the pump competition itself, because that’s the one that showcases the skills that we use as firefighters,” said Easter. “It requires the team to be more dynamic and use different skills – there’s hooking up hoses, deploying the hoses, using your fire streams, and operating your pump. So that’s the one that most of the pride’s involved in.”

The bucket brigade relay and antique truck pull test their teamwork, strength and endurance.

“The truck pull is more about speed – digging in and going hard. You’ll see in the simulated ‘tug-of-war’ where we use hoses to hit the barrel, teamwork and communication come into play, coordinating how the hose moves. We’re not just battling the bucket, we’re battling the other team.”

Port Dover (Norfolk County Station 2) went up against Brownsville early in the best-of-three water barrel showdown. Brownsville triumphed in the first ‘round’ but Port Dover won the ‘match.’

“I think what happened there… I was a little too close to the barrel,” said Port Dover Station 2’s Gavin Chapman. “So once it got over top of me, I lost all ability for that momentum to move forward. All of a sudden, I’m on full defence as opposed to offence.”

For the second round, he brought himself back a bit, giving them a better angle and momentum to move forward.

“It’s such a mix of luck and skill, it really is.”

He kept the same strategy to win the best-of-three, but there was a moment when Brownsville held the line, and pushed back a bit.

“They are a great team, there was a moment of worry for sure,” said Chapman.

“There’s a lot of really good firefighters here, so it’s always an honour to be in this competition and get together with our brothers and sisters and have a good time.

“This is my third year in a row doing it, and every year it’s a blast. It’s camaraderie, it’s fun. It’s great for kids. I just think it’s a great community event. Every game is so fun, the food is always good, and the community support is always out of this world – and every single thing we do is for them, so to feel that support for our games, there’s no word but honour.”

Saturday’s overall winning fire station was Courtland, winners of three events. Port Dover and St. Williams tied for second. Third place was a tie between Fairground and Brownsville (winners of the truck pull), one point back. Vittoria was fourth.

Next year Station 8 Fairground is expected to host the pump competition.