Lexington Fire Department’s Combat Challenge teams prepping for Worlds

The teams will compete against more than a dozen teams from across the globe from October 3rd through the 8th in the city of Stuart, Florida

LEXINGTON, Ky (WTVQ)- Lexington firefighters are usually doing their best to put out fires, but the department’s combat challenge teams have literally been on fire in recent weeks after competing in regional and national competitions.

Now, the teams are gearing up for a huge competition next month in Florida. There, the firefighters will compete against around 18 teams from across the globe from October 3rd through the 8th in the city of Stuart.

With their sights now set on breaking records at the Worlds, the teams are putting in the hard work, including using a dummy they call “Randy.”

“He’s not very nice. Yeah, hes pretty mean,” says Andrew Cook, a Lexington firefighter and paramedic who competes.

Randy is just one of the tools the teams use to train for the World Firefighter Challenge Championship.

“It’s basically a firefighter obstacle course. It’s on air, full gear, and you’re doing different events. Pulling a charged hose line, running up stairs with high rise packs, dragging dummies, things like that,” says Sarah McGill, who competes on the LFD women’s team.

The teams are made up of five guys and five girls. They’re are racing against not only the clock, but the other teams.

The firefighters train while also working their normal shifts.

“We have 24, 48 schedules and sometimes they can be brutal. You don’t wanna go too hard that first day off because you’re still tired,” says Cook.

At a recent competition in Alabama, McGill beat her own U.S. National record. The whole women’s team set a new U.S. record in the recent national relay. And they’re all hoping to do even better in Florida.

“Everyone has kind of times that you’re shooting and you’re always shooting to be a little fast, a little better than you were the day before,” says McGill.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to win.

“The ultimate goal of the challenge is just to be a better fireman. And that’s kind of our ultimate goal. We all do love to workout and love fitness, but that’s a big part of what we do, as being a firemen. so at the end of the day, we go out there to have fun.  It’s all about the friendships and relationships that we build too. We meet a lot of awesome, passionate firemen from all over the country, all over the world so that’s awesome,” says McGill.

But it’s also about learning skills and coming back better prepared to help their community.

“One of the biggest things we learn through doing this is how hard you can physically push yourself and also that its okay sometimes to fail. Sometimes, you have to fail in order to get better,” says Michelle Spanyer, who competes.

“For me, its a lot of the team aspect. I love coming out here and competing with these ladies. I love cheering on the males. It is also about bettering yourself as a firefighter,” says firefighter Erin Lucas.

McGill says they all fund their own trips, have to provide race gear and training equipment. The Lexington Fire Department helps, as do sponsors.

If you’d like to donate to help the combat challenge teams in Lexington, click here. 

You can learn more about the Firefighter Challenge here.