GORE BAY—In the first firefighter challenge the members of the Gore Bay Volunteer Fire Department have ever participated in, the local fire department placed second in two different categories at the Northshore Firefighter Challenge.
“I am so proud of the guys,” stated Duncan Sinclair, deputy fire chief for Gore Bay Fire Department. “We did really well. We ended up with two second place finishes, and only decimal point out of first place in one of the drills.”
“The guys did phenomenal, especially when you consider it was the first time our fire department has taken part in this type of challenge, and this was the first time these guys had seen the drills we took part in, and only had the chance to practice twice,” said Mr. Sinclair. He pointed out other participating teams have been taking part in this type of competition for at least two years and longer in some cases.
Gore Bay firefighters Andrew Cone, Jon Oliver, Chris Meloche and Duncan Sinclair took part in the North Shore Firefighter Challenge held in Thessalon on April 26. They were up against 15 other teams from areas like Sault Ste. Marie, Spanish Rivers, Blind River, Elliot Lake, Thessalon where the event was held and others.
The Gore Bay team finished second in both the Denver drill and second in the Pittsburg style drill.
“First event was for bragging rights, how fast each firefighter can get all their fire gear on,” said Mr. Sinclair. “The guy who won did it in 56 seconds. Jon and Andrew both did it in the 90 second range.”
Mr. Sinclar outlined firefighters took part in an apartment search drill, where the team searches a two-bedroom apartment for any victims, a Nance drill which, “is based on a firefighter falling through the floor of a house. Injured and trapped in the basement we have to facilitate a rescue,” he said. And while the Denver drill is very difficult and is based on a downed firefighter in a second story bedroom, “the most physical drill is the Pittsburg style drill,” said Deputy Fire Chief Sinclair. “This drill is a handful. So, there is a downed/trapped firefighter you have to find. The drill starts with us blocked and can’t go forward so we have to breach a wall. It is a standard wall in a house. 16-foot centre studs. We had to cut through the drywall with an axe and squeeze through the studs. Once we are through the wall, we have to find the hose line that the firefighter was using, orientate ourselves with the hose to which way leads to the downed firefighter, and which way leads back to the fire truck,” continued deputy fire chief Sinclair. “As we are following the hose line, we encounter a barrier that we have to climb over. All the while we are communicating with each other as well as our fourth man on the outside (our coach/incident command) as well we have to continually ‘sound the floor.’ What that means is we want to make sure the floor we are crawling on will support our weight.”
“Once the second guy is over the barrier we come across another obstacle,” he said. “This one is approximately 10 feet long by two feet by two feet with stuff hanging down that could entangle you. So, we send the first firefighter (Andrew) through the tunnel while I wait for Jon to climb over the first barrier. We want to stay in contact either physically or vocally, so Andrew is through the tunnel and he comes across another obstacle. This one is a tapered box about six- feet long with a three-foot wide by two-foot high opening that tapers down to an opening of about 15 inches by 14 inches: No way we can get through that with our air packs on. So, Andrew is taking off his pack while laying on his back, I am crawling through the tunnel with a rescue pack and Jon is pushing my feet to help me through it. Once I am through that I wait for Jon to come through the tunnel. Meanwhile, Andrew has removed his pack, shoved it through the small opening and has squeezed through himself and is searching for the downed firefighter. Andrew announces that he has found the downed firefighter. Jon has made it through the tunnel so now I go through the tapered box to assist Andrew and Jon waits at the entrance to the tapered box, conserving air because he has a big job coming up. I remove my pack and squeeze though the small opening and assist Andrew in packaging up the downed firefighter. We have to remove his air pack while maintaining his air flow, we get a strap around him and position him at the narrow opening.” “We pass the other end of the strap to Jon and then in a coordinated pull, we pull-push the downed firefighter through the opening,” he continued. “Once Jon gets him pulled through, myself and Andrew squeeze back through the opening and get our own packs back on. Once Andrew and I have met up with Jon, we send Jon through the tunnel obstacle while we position the downed firefighter at the opening of the tunnel. Once Jon is in position on the other side of the tunnel, we have to do a coordinated pull/push to get the downed firefighter through the tunnel. Once Jon has pulled him pulled through, he starts getting the air pack back on the downed firefighter, (we will need to use the pack in order to lift the firefighter) Andrew and I come back through the tunnel. Once Andrew and I have met up with Jon, we send him over the first barrier we came to while Andrew and I finish packaging up the downed firefighter. Keep in mind we are still sounding the floor making sure it will support our weight, and continually relaying our progress to our fourth team member.” “Once we have the downed firefighter all packaged up, we have to spin him around so he is feet first to the obstacle and Andrew and I lift him and position/toss him on top of the obstacle where Jon is there waiting to grab his arms. Then again as a team we lift/pull him over the obstacle and lower him to the other side. Jon clears the path for Andrew and myself to get over the obstacle as well. Then we just have to squeeze everyone back through the 16-foot centre wall that we initially had to breach, all while trying not to run out of air or injure the downed firefighter.”
“Our guys were bummed out about not winning, but keep in mind they have never competed before,” said deputy fire chief Sinclair. “They are already talking about going back next year and would also like to have a challenge on the Island with all the other local fire departments.”
“From my perspective, this is the first time our firefighters have done this before, and they didn’t have much opportunity to practice,” said Gore Bay Fire Chief Mike Addison. “They performed really, really well and I am very proud of them.” He explained Mr. Sinclair had arranged with the organizers to have all the drill equipment brought to Gore Bay, where they could show the local firefighter how to complete the drills. They had two practices on the apparatus. “It is pretty amazing what our firefighters did, placing second in two different events.”
