Strathcona County is home to some extraordinary firefighters.
A trio of Strathcona County firefighters took home gold and silver medals in multiple categories at the 2022 FireFit Worlds event held in Spruce Meadows last month.
Brad Dicks, a nine-year veteran with the Strathcona County fire department, took home gold in the men's individual, finishing three seconds shy of a world record.
Carla Morrison, who is currently in her 13th year of service, was also at the top of her game, finishing first in the women's individual, beating second place by 18 seconds.
Along with the individual awards, Dicks and fellow firefighter, David Murray, also took home gold for the men's tandem event.
"The event went really well," said Dicks. "We were really well supported by our department as well as our community."
"It was a very good team atmosphere."
As if the gold medals weren't enough to fill the trophy case, the trio also secured silver medals in the mixed team and mixed tandem events.
The team has been training year-round for the event.
"We're training strength, agility, hypertrophy, and endurance," said Morrison. "We have a tower in Sherwood Park that we train on... it's not set up exactly the same, but we can make it pretty close."
"Edmonton also lets us come to their tower and they have the same tower we compete on."
FireFit is a sport that brings together firefighters from around the world to participate in an obstacle course that incorporates essential skills needed by firefighters. The entire course is run while wearing about 60 pounds of gear.
The obstacle course consists of the following:
- Picking up a 45lb hose roll and run it up six flights of stairs
- Hoisting a 45lb hose with a rope
- Running back down the stairs to do a forceful entry with something called a Keiser force machine
- Run a set of pylons and carry three lengths of hose to put out a fire.
- Pick up a 175lb dummy and drag it 100ft.
The 2023 season of FireFit is set to kick off in May.