Travis firefighters dominate El Paso challenge

10/8/2003 - EL PASO, Texas (AFPN) -- Firefighter combat challenge teams take note: The Travis team is the real deal.

At the regional Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge competition here Oct. 4 and 5, the firefighter team from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., dominated every aspect of the tournament, taking first place in four out of five categories in which they competed.

This competition was the last one before the team competes in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge International Championships in Ottawa, Canada, during the first week of November.

Team Travis, their official name, is made up of active-duty, Reserve and civilian firefighters here who represent the base in firefighter competitions across the United States.

The firefighter combat challenge, now in its 12th season, is designed to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession's rigors to the public, according to challenge officials. It is also about performing one of the most dangerous and demanding jobs better and safer, they added.

During the challenge, firefighters wear their full gear and breathing apparatus while completing several obstacles, each designed to replicate conditions firefighters encounter on a daily basis.

The first obstacle requires firefighters to climb to the top of a five-story tower carrying a 42-pound "high-rise" hose pack. At the top, they hoist a hose roll, also weighing 42 pounds, up the tower. Then they race back down the tower, making sure they touch each step along the way.

In the second event, the firefighters simulate chopping through a wall or ceiling by hitting a 165-pound steel beam with a mallet that weighs 9 pounds. The firefighters have to move the steel beam approximately five feet before they can move on to the next obstacle.

Here, they run 140 feet while zigzagging through a series of plastic fire hydrants to reach the fourth station, where the firefighters then grab and carry an attack hose 75 feet, bust through a mock window and spray a target with a stream of water. After the target is knocked down, the firefighters finish the course by dragging a 175-pound dummy, nicknamed Rescue Randy, 100 feet to the finish line.

Each competition is divided into several categories: individual female, individual male younger than 40, older than 40, older than 50, team and relay.

In the individual events, firefighters compete on their own to see who can finish with the best time, while the team event takes the top three times of each teams individual runs and adds them together. The team with the best total time is considered the winner.

The relay event is a little different. Instead of each firefighter running the entire course alone, the teams compete together by staging team members at each obstacle. The teams then compete against each other in an elimination-style tournament. In the first round, every team runs the course with the winners advancing. This continues until only two teams remain for the championship race.

At the El Paso firefighter challenge, Team Travis once again showed it is a team to contend with.

The teams captain, Staff Sgt. Mike Melton, took first place in the younger than 40 male race; Shenah Flores, the only female team member, took first place in the female category; Dave Chiodo finished an impressive second in the older than 50 category; the team had the best total time and took top honors in the relay race with the third fastest time posted during the 2003 season.

But even as they celebrated this impressive performance, their thoughts were already on the competition ahead.

As soon as we finish one competition, were already thinking about the next one, said Airman 1st Class Brendan ONeil, a Team Travis member. Were thinking of what we can improve on and what we need to do to stay prepared.

Staying prepared is a way of life for Team Travis. All of the team members perform their daily jobs as firefighters throughout the week, then take time after work to practice the different obstacles and work out. However, Travis does not own a tower -- a five-story structure that is used for the first part of the competition -- so team members practice the other parts of the course at Travis and are only able to practice the tower portion at event sites. Nonetheless, Team Travis continues to win.

It is this level of dedication that has made Team Travis one of, if not the, best in the world at what they do, according to Travis officials.

We all volunteered for this, said Senior Airman Harry Myers, a Team Travis member. So we knew what we were getting into. If you want to be the best, you have to work harder than the next guy. If you relax, theres someone out there just waiting to beat you.

If Team Travis performance here is any indication of their resolve, then the rest of the teams had better be preparing for the fight of their lives at the world championship in November.