Lubbock firefighter team to compete in world challenge

A group of Lubbock firefighters is among the best in the nation, and they are out to prove they are tops in the world. Team Lubbock is headed to the Scott Firefighters Combat Challenge on Nov. 16 in Las Vegas after qualifying last weekend in the national competition in Arlington.

“This is a huge deal for us,” team captain Justin Rhodes said. “These guys have been working really, really hard.”

In the world challenge, firefighters simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting, according to the competition’s organizers. They compete in five events while wearing 40 pounds of full gear. Each task is timed, and firefighters have a six-minute limit for all events.

In one contest, they carry a 42-pound pack up 63 steps and then use a rope to hoist up another 42-pound pack to the top of a tower.

In another, they rescue a 175-pound “victim,” pulling it backward for 100 feet.

They also use a 9-pound sledgehammer to drive a 160-pound steel beam five feet and drag a hose full of water – effectively moving 140 pounds – 75 feet forward.

Rhodes said practicing for the competition has made team members better at their jobs.

“All these guys are in peak physical condition,” he said.

Other members are Travis Austin, Jason Bobo, Phillip Grandon, Nathan Klatt, J.W. Ray, Nick Wilson and Matt Hixson.

The team has been training since March, practicing just about every day. They have competed in five contests to get to the world competition, which will host about 1,000 firefighters from countries including Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Chile and South Africa.

The Challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession’s rigors to the public, according to the official Web site. The contests will be televised in January on Versus, Rhodes said.

This is the first year a Lubbock team has participated in the combat challenges.
By Robin Pyle in The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal