CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Charleston Airmen participated in the All-American Fire Muster and Fire Engine Exposition in North Charleston, S.C., recently.
The 11-man team from Charleston AFB competed against several other teams in the statewide competition that was held to showcase the teamwork, responsibility and talent of South Carolina firefighters in a "friendly" competition.
During the competition, Team Charleston firefighters claimed first place in the Class "C" Handtub event. In the event, 10 Charleston AFB firefighters used an antique firefighting apparatus from 1864 to hand-pump a piston-driven pump to shoot water as far as possible in a 15-minute timeframe. With winning the event, they also came close, but fell one foot short of setting the all-time record for that type of apparatus by reaching a distance of 171 feet. However, they did break the record for that specific type of pump, which had a previous record set more than 40 years ago at 168 feet
"It was really exciting and shocking that we came that close to setting a record," said Airman 1st Class Nick Harrington, 437th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire and Emergency Services Flight firefighter. "It was so shocking because all the other teams had larger people and we were pretty average-sized, but we came and beat them all."
The Charleston AFB firefighters also came in a close second place in the Bucket Brigade event. During this event, five Airmen transferred 55 gallons of water from a pool to drum located 25 feet away in 29 seconds. They finished just one second after their neighbors, the North Charleston Fire Department, who finished the event in 28 seconds.
"I'm very proud of how well our firefighters performed," said Tech. Sgt. Charles Clawson, 437 CES Fire and Emergency Services Flight fire protection supervisor. "And what really set them apart from everyone else is that they performed very well together as a team."
The Charleston AFB firefighter team did not do any training specific to the competition aside from their everyday training and work.
"When we arrived, none of us actually knew how to do the handtub event because it used antique equipment," said Airman Harrington. "But luckily we were the last ones to go so we got to see how other teams did it. Then we ended up winning that event."
The All-American Fire Muster and Fire Engine Exposition was organized by Handtub Junction and the North American Class "C" Muster Association. This type of fire engine competition started in the United States in 1849, but this is the first one in the Charleston area to occur in more than 100 years.
This is the first time Charleston AFB has competed at such an event, and Sergeant Clawson hopes to have base firefighters participate in future competitions.