Thirty volunteers from Abbotsford and Vancouver provided recovery services for competitors at the recent FireFit Canadian Nationals and World Championships in Kamloops.
The volunteers were members of the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), an outreach arm of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church that provides practical support and emergency relief during natural disasters and major incidents.
RRT was on site for more than 560 hours at the Kamloops event, which ran Sept. 25 to 29.
The recovery tent became a lifeline for competitors at they completed their runs – catching them as they collapsed across the finish line, exhausted from the gruelling competition.
The FireFit Championships drew 350 firefighters from across the globe in what is often called “the most intense two minutes in sports.”
The competition is based on real-world firefighting tasks, including hose foists, forcible entry and victim rescues.
Participants must perform each even while wearing 60 pounds of full firefighting gear, including helmets, glove and self-contained breathing apparatus.
