Firematics Competition 2017

      I was a spectator at  a demonstration of skill, strength, dexterity, grit - and comradeship - last Saturday, the Tri-County Firematics competition.
    The Tri-County Firematics involves a number of suburban volunteer fire-fighting companies in Somerset, Morris, and Union Counties. The site of the event rotates every year. This Spring, it was hosted by Chatham and held on the Chatham Middle School grounds.
     My son, Max, is a volunteer with the Liberty Corner Fire Company, which won the competition for the fourth straight year. Basking Ridge, the other fire-fighting unit in Bernards Township, placed a close second out of nine teams, and our neighboring town, Bernardsville, was a very respectable third.
   Max participated in the non-scoring "mystery event" at the end of the day, which consisted of a team of five dragging heavy fire hoses 75-feet, and returning back with all the equipment, along with a 150 lb. dummy, that must not touch the ground!
   The scoring events were a single hose set-up competition, an interesting ladder event; and a complicated double-hose set-up. All had a good deal of relation to the speed and teamwork needed in an actual fire call.
    Working under pressure not unlike real life, hoses had to be connected properly or water burst all over, and valuable time was lost. A good deal of elbow grease was required by the fire-fighter opening and closing the hydrant quickly in the hose events. I had a lot of respect watching these things, and understand how much training and practice goes into a smooth running fire operation of any kind.
    The ladder event looked almost like the storming of a medieval castle. A team of five had to put on their fire-fighting gear at the sound of a whistle, and then one man ran out to get the end of a 16-foot ladder. They traipsed the ladder vertically (this was the tricky part!) about 30 yards, and then one fireman rapidly scaled it, grabbed an object on top of the platform set up for the event, and slid immediately back down. The whole team then ran back across the starting line with the ladder. The "climber" had to be Spiderman-like in his movements to save time, and the carriers had to have excellent core strength to carry the ladder without it tipping backward (which did happen a couple of times!). It was about a minute of total anaerobic effort by everyone involved!
    The competition was spirited on a warm June Saturday, but there was no bad sportsmanship among the brotherhood of volunteers who spend their free time helping their community, all hours of the day. Firemen's tradition, there was a good spread of food afterward at the Chatham Middle School site. The guys earned it!