Academy firefighters win 3 world titles

  • Published
  • By John Van Winkle
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AFNS) --  Air Force Academy firefighters added three world titles to their trophy collection, this time from the World Firefighter Combat Challenge XIX Nov. 8 through 13.

During the 2010 firefighter challenge season, the Air Force Academy firefighters won first place in three categories: women's relay team, women's tandem and co-ed tandem.

The firefighter combat challenge is an international competition which simulates the physical demands of real-life firefighting by having firefighters perform a linked series of five tasks including climbing the five-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175 pound "victim" as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.

In the world of firefighting, the firefighter combat challenge is the Super Bowl of firefighting that takes the physical demands of running an Ironman triathlon, crunches this into the time for a two-minute drill, and doesn't stop play until the event is over.

Firefighters can compete in several categories, as either individuals, tandems or teams, with separate divisions for men, women and co-ed teams, 40-plus and 50-plus. But all compete on the same course with the same physical requirements.

Members of the Air Force Academy Fire Department have been regular competitors at the world level for the past four world firefighter combat challenges and have been competing since 2001.

The women's relay team from the Academy was the Fire Fembots, a team that combined the talents of female firefighters from the Air Force Academy and the Colorado Springs Fire Department. In team events, firefighters must all come from one local area.

The Fire Fembots debuted during the 2009 firefighter challenge season and won the women's relay team world championship easily.

Relays bring an additional requirement; teams have to pass a baton between team members at certain locations. Relays allow team members to compete in their strongest events and combine those talents against the clock, but a drop of the relay baton in the wrong place on the course can mean an instant disqualification.

The Fembots were heavy favored coming into the finals bracket, and advanced to the final round with as much relative ease as the firefighter combat challenge allows. In the final round, they faced the Ontario Flame Tamers.

Academy firefighter Andrea Caraway established a lead taking the fire hose up the tower, handing off to Colorado Springs firefighter Stacy Billapando. Mrs. Billapando executed a perfect hose hoist and kept a slight lead going down the tower and through the Keiser sled. She handed off to Academy firefighter Elaine Perkins, whose speed extended the Fembots' lead as she ran a 100-foot diagonal course to hand-off the baton to teammate Lisa Smith of the Colorado Springs Fire Department. Mrs. Smith dragged the hose with all her might to extend the lead, knocking down the target with a short burst of water and handed off to Senior Airman Jessica Morehouse. Airman Morehouse is the team's closer. She dragged the dummy across the finish line with a time of 1:45.31. This was one second shy of the Fembots' 2009 world record, but it was still five seconds faster than the Ontario team, earning the Fire Fembots their second consecutive world title.

But rather than rest, two of the Fembots had more races to run that day. Airman Morehouse and Mrs. Billapando also competed in the women's tandem category, and repeated as world champs in this category as well.

"It feels awesome, I'm very excited," Airman Morehouse said after her latest world championship. "It's awesome to have a teammate like Stacy to run with. She makes it pretty easy."

A third Air Force Academy team, the co-ed team of Anthony "Tank" McMurtry and Mrs. Billapando, also won gold. Both are veteran competitors on the world stage, and both hold world records in separate categories.

"I always tell myself 'I'm only as good as my last race,'" Mr. McMurtry said. "The past is the past. The newest memory I have in my mind is memory of the last race I ran, and I just try to do better."

And he did. The last time the duo raced was at the nationals in October, where they came in second. In the finals, Mr. McMurtry and Mrs. Billapando faced the team of Staff Sgt. Jessica Packard and her fellow DOD Fire Academy instructor, Bill Alexander. The pair ran the race neck and neck, with the McMurtry/Billapando team taking a slight lead midway through and finishing with a time of 1:30.34. However, they were assessed a two-second penalty for an early hose use, which increased their time to 1:32.34. The modified time was two hundredths of a second faster than the Department of Defense Fire Academy team. This gave the McMurtry/Billapando team the world championship, and made all the early morning practices throughout the past year worth it, they said.

"It is definitely a sacrifice, to get to this level, everybody here has sacrificed something maybe family time, maybe working two jobs to get it done," Mrs. Billapando said. "But at this level, when you throw yourself out there and go as hard as you can, you hope you gave enough. I know for a fact that the Air Force as a whole has definitely trained hard this year, and it shows."

A number of Air Force bases fielded teams this year at firefighter combat challenge regional events, and about a dozen other bases also sent firefighters to compete at the world level: The DOD Firefighter Academy, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Holloman AFB, N.M.; Hurlburt Field, Fla. Offutt AFB, Neb.; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.; Shaw AFB, S.C.; Spangdahlem AB, Germany; Whiteman AFB, Mo., and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

"We're cheering for everybody from the Air Force, but a little bit louder for the Academy," said Col. Rick LoCastro, the 10th Air Base Wing commander. "I'm extremely proud of our teams and the reason I come all this way, is because this is our Super Bowl. This is our academy athletic team, and these guys are our athletes. I couldn't imagine not being here as their wing commander.

"They train throughout the year in obscurity and maybe don't get the attention that maybe some of our other teams at the Academy get for various reasons -- being more visible. But it's all on at the national events and here at the world championships, and I feel very proud to cheer them on as their wing commander, to have superstars like this on the base running our fire department," the colonel said.

In addition to the three first-place finishes, the Academy's over-40 relay team recorded a second-place finish to the Atlanta-based Clayton County team. The Clayton County team came into the competition with three world titles in the over-40 relay in past years, while the Team USAFA 40-plus team won it in 2009. But Clayton County had broken the world record time in this event in the semi-finals and took a small early lead to finish at 1:18.33, while Team USAFA 40-plus came in a close second to at 1:20.18. That earned the Team USAFA 40-plus the silver medals, and a second consecutive top-two finish for the team of Ken Helgerson, Ron Prettyman, Dan McAuliffe and Rod Sanders.

The Academy's men's relay team, Team USAFA, finished third at this year's world's championship. Team USAFA advanced to the final four in this event, facing a team from McKinney, Texas. Team captain Pat Kraft took an early lead on the hoist, but the team received a four-second penalty coming down the tower, which decided the outcome of the race. Team USAFA finished at 1:11.31, before the addition of the four-second penalty, while the McKinney team finished the course with a time of 1:12.77 to advance to the finals.

Team USAFA consists of Mr. Kraft, Mr. McMurtry, William Gates, Hans Barkley and Tyler Moran. Each has made multiple visits to the world championships in the firefighter combat challenge, and the team is expected to make a run for another national and world finish in the 2011 season.

For the Academy teams, training for the 2011 World Firefighter Combat Challenge season begins as soon as they return to their home fire stations. Their first chance to qualify to return to the national and world competitions will be at the first scheduled regional competition, slated for March in Indianapolis.