By S. Casselman/Leader staff
NORTH AUGUSTA – The annual Eastern Ontario Firefighters Association’s competition, the firefighter games, once again saw Iroquois come out on top.
Eleven members of the Iroquois department of South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services participated in this year’s games Saturday, June 17 in North Augusta.
Stephane Aubé, Blair Belanger, Rick Cogdale, Les Crawford, Bryan Holmes, Andy Major, Shawn Markell, Trevor Riopelle, Brad Thompson, Philip Thompson, and Jeff Watt threw themselves into the competition, coming out ahead of the second place team by two points.
“The guys worked very hard and never gave up,” deputy-chief Philip Thompson said. “They kept going and it paid off in the end.”
Ten teams competed in this year’s games, which included the following challenges: the eight-man hose-coupling contest; three-man ladder climb; five-man bunker gear ladder climb; four-man hose coupling; firefighter bunker gear relay; the chief’s race; five-man hose lay wet; four-man insert contest; five-man efficiency; eight-man efficiency; and, the eight-man bucket brigade.
Iroquois placed well in all events, coming out with a total of 28 points at the end of the day, two higher than Augusta’s team, which placed second.
Iroquois excelled in the five-man bunker gear ladder climb and eight-man efficiency events, having placed first in both.
Aside from the win, Thompson said overall it was an excellent, well organized event. Next year’s firefighter games will be hosted by Beckwith.
