Team posts PBs in gruelling fitness challenge on the road to nationals

A Yukon contingent of firefighters returned home from B.C. on Sunday a little tired but with the strong chance that they may qualify for nationals this year.

Members of the Whitehorse Firefighter Combat team and the Yukon Firefighter Combat team posted impressive times at the FireFit Pacific Regionals in Vernon, B.C. over the weekend.

FireFit, a gruelling obstacle-course-inspired event simulating a fire ground, sees firefighters rush up four flights of stairs with a heavy coil of hose, hoist up rope from the ground, hammer through a force machine, run through an obstacle course, carry a charged hose and hit a target and drag a dummy victim, all while wearing full gear and on oxygen – a feeling, Tagish fire chief Boyd Pyper describes as “sucking air through a straw.”

The whole course takes longer to explain than the fastest man in the world can complete it.

“Maybe the nine of us are just a little bit odd,” said Pyper. “This is really the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

The Yukon teams picked up three medals over the weekend: Deputy Fire Marshal James Paterson won gold in the officer category, while teammate Pyper won a silver in the same category. Pyoer also won a bronze in the over 50 men’s category.

Coty Fraser,  Alex Cusson, Myron Penner and Paterson all came in under the two-minute mark, which was a goal for many going into the event.

“Knowing that I’m pushing myself to a place I’ve never been before, that just makes me a better firefighter and fire chief,” said Pyper. “If I can do this, I can fight a fire, I can lead my team safely home.”

The Yukon had previously fielded a team at nationals in the mid 2000s, but then the team fizzled out.

Marshal resurrected the team in 2013, sending out an email to see if there was any interest.

On Pyper’s 50th birthday, he ran 20 towers with Marshal.

“I had no idea what I was getting into. I think I wanted to be sick partway up,” he said. “It hammers you.”

After running those stairs, they started introducing skills stations and once you have all the basics down, you get to try it in gear, and on air.

The FireFit team is a personal cause for Pyper and Marshal, as the late Tagish Fire Chief Kurt Gantner died in the line of duty on his way back to a fire in 2011.

“He was a friend,” said Pyper. “Me and the other guys had to bury him.

“I don’t want that to happen again.”

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death for firefighters, said Pyper.

Adrenaline is a main factor at a fire.

“On a fire ground you will get multiple shots of adrenaline,” said Pyper. “The strain on the heart is huge.”

By no means does Pyper expect al his firefighters to participate in FireFit. He recognizes that not everyone has his flair for masochism.

He and Paterson are working on a standardized fitness test to run at fire stations across the Yukon to help set a baseline fitness requirement for firefighters. They are also working on a training plan for firefighters wanting to improve their fitness, but these resources won’t be ready or available for some time.

In the meantime, Pyper hopes that he’s able to inspire some firefighters to pick up the fitness bug.

“This fire combat isn’t just about running up and down stairs,” he said.

“It’s about taking that message of fitness and health out to all of our brothers and sisters and moving it forward.”

The FireFit teams won’t know for a few weeks yet if their times are enough to qualify them for nationals, as the other regions still need to run their own qualifications, but they have been hard at work fundraising and have already blocked the time off of work.

“We’re hoping to get to the nationals and do the best we can,” said Pyper. “If we bring home medals, even better.”

FireFit nationals will take place in Spruce Meadows, Alta. Sept. 14 to 18.