World Firefighters Games

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The World Firefighter Games is an International sporting event that welcomes all full-time part-time, Structural Firefighters, Bush fire firefighters & Volunteer firefighters, Aviation Fire Services. Military Emergency Response personnel and their immediate direct family from all across the globe.

The Games are held biennially in different countries around the world and offer over 50 different sports including sports such as: Archery, Rugby Sevens, Windsurfing, Poker, Swimming, Athletics, Softball, Poker to name a few with the "Toughest FireFighter Alive" being the blue riband event.

History

The concept began in 1988 with the first ever World Firefighters Games held in Auckland, New Zealand from 22 to 29 April 1990, with 1800 Athletes and 1400 Supporters coming from 17 different countries, the first Games were a huge success.

The purpose of the games was to introduce the four following concepts within the services:

  1. To promote health and fitness
  2. To provide a forum for information exchange between Fire Services
  3. To foster comradeship amongst firefighters
  4. To encourage family participation

The motivation behind the games was to overcome some of the problems with entering the World Police and Fire Games, in that the games are only open to full-time paid firefighters. As most fire services globally use mostly volunteer personnel the World Firefighters Games allows entrants that are full-time, part-time and volunteer, as well as the families of fire service personnel to enter.

After the first Games companies registered their business interests in the concept in an attempt to make a profit from the games by registering the names etc. However when the Games were held in Perth, Western Australia in 1994 the organising committee felt so strongly about the Games belonging to the firefighters, and not to take away from the original concept of the Games, that they bought the rights from the original owners and Perth has now become the home of the World Governing Body, "World Firefighters Games WA Inc". The World Governing Body for the World Firefighters Games licenses each fire department and allows use of the name etc. for the running of the event, the governing body is entirely a Non-Profit Organization and all proceeds are donated to charity.

The Largest Games were held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA from 16–22 May 1992 with approximately 4,000 athletes and 14,000 supporters and spectators.

LA 2014 was cancelled by the "proprietor" of the games sometime during the week of 19 May 2014.

The 2016 Games Host will be announced as soon as possible, these games will be run under the auspices of World Firefighters Games WA Inc.[1]

Toughest FireFighter Alive

The Toughest Firefighter Alive, which is specific to the World Firefighters Games, is carried out in full firefighting Kit and tests competitors in a number of firefighting specific disciplines, it is the games Blue Riband event and endeavors to discover who the 'Toughest Firefighter' alive is.

There are four parts to the competition:

1. The Hose Run -Carried out in full firefighting kit and carrying a BA set, competitors are tested in hose running and carrying.

2. Obstacle course -carried out in full firefighter gear, competitors are required to carry various pieces of equipment whilst negotiating tunnels and walls.

3. Tower - again in full firefighters gear, competitors are required to handle and pitch ladders and to carry firefighting equipment up ropes.

4. Stair Climb -competitors are required to climb to the top of a Tower, the height of which can vary depending on the country but will normally vary from 100-200m.

At the 2010 games competitors were required to climb Daegu Tower which is 202 meter’s high with 83 storeys.

Host cities

Events

The Core Sports of the games are Archery, Arm Wrestling, Badminton, Basketball (3:5, 5:5), Bodybuilding, Ten-Pin Bowling, Bucket brigade, Cross Country Running, Cycling, Climbing, Darts, Eight Ball, Nine-ball, Golf, Horseshoes, Judo, Karate, Bowls, Marathon, Half Marathon, Poker, Powerlifting, Rugby Sevens, Sailing, Skeet Shooting, Soccer, Fastpitch softball, Softball, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Toughest Firefighter Alive, Track and Field, Trap Shooting, Triathlon, Tug Of War, Volleyball - 2 man/ 6 man, Windsurfing, Wrestling

The different host countries will vary the events depending on their national games, traditions and their culture.

References

  1. ↑ [ "World Firefighters Games"] Check |url= value (help). World Firefighters Games Western Australia Inc. Retrieved 21 August 2013.

World Firefighters Games Governing Body Web Page

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