Salt Lake City firefighters preparing to host firefighter challenge competition

SALT LAKE CITY — Groups of Utah firefighters were preparing Friday for a big fitness challenge ESPN calls "the toughest two minutes in sports." The challenge will bring roughly 200 firefighters from the western U.S. to Utah.

They're planning to compete in the TFT Firefighter Challenge Championship Series. The Salt Lake City Fire Department is hosting the West Classic region qualifiers April 24-26 at the Utah State Fairpark. That's where you'll find firefighters from eight states all in Utah to see who will go on to the national championship. Utah firefighters who expect to make a run for it held a mock version of the challenge course Friday morning.

The competition tests firefighters' endurance and skills needed to save lives. Firefighters must complete five challenges all back-to-back. They first throw a 42-pound hose over their shoulder and run up five flights of stairs. Once at the top, they hoist another 42-pound bag of hose from the ground up and over the railing on the fifth floor. Once that's complete, they run back down to the third challenge, hitting a 160-pound anvil with a sledgehammer from one side of a sled to another. The fourth challenge is an obstacle course sprint that ends by hitting a target with a charged fire hose. Finally, competitors drag a 160-pound dummy over 100 feet.

Those with the fastest time go on to compete. So far, the Utah fire agencies signed up to compete include:

• Salt Lake City Fire Department
• Unified Fire Authority
• Lehi Fire Department
• Hill Air Force Base Fire Department
• American Fork Fire Department
• South Davis Metro Fire Department
• Murray Fire Department
• Smithfield Fire Department
• Washington Fire Department
• West Valley City Fire Department
• South Jordan Fire Department

For Salt Lake City Fire Department, it's a fun way to promote physical fitness for its firefighters.

"It's about just striving to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, and this challenge allows us to draw that out of us," said Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Brandon Heaney.

KSL-TV also spoke with Salt Lake City Fire Academy recruits who did a test run on Thursday. Some said it's the hardest thing they've ever done.

"This competition is no joke; it'll make you dig deeper than you've ever digged before," said Sydnee Cervinski, a Salt Lake City fire recruit.

"They're pushing us every day to go hard and find areas of ourselves that we didn't know where there," said Payton Hartnell, a South Davis Metro fire recruit.

When the Salt Lake City Fire Department hosts the Western qualifiers April 24-26, it needs volunteers to help run the event. KSL-TV was told volunteers will be directly involved in the action and help reset the event. If you'd like to sign up to volunteer, click on this link to the West Classic website. Sign-up opportunities appear in the middle of the event page.

Related topics