The Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade’s hosting the Southern Firefighter Challenge, in which about 60 firefighters will race the clock as they complete a series of exhausting tasks — all while wearing full gear and breathing apparatus.
Queenstown firey Claire Jones says the rec ground’s a new venue for the event, after the brigade last hosted the challenge at the Queenstown Primary School grounds two years ago.
A three-storey-high tower, built from scaffolding, will be part of an obstacle course through which competitors must haul hoses, drag dummies and complete other tasks that replicate what they typically face on the job.
Jones, who was the fourth-fastest under-40 woman at the world firefighter challenge champs in Florida in 2023, which she backed up with eighth in Nashville last year, says the event’s catching on at her brigade, with about 10 of her colleagues expected to compete at the South Island champs at the end of the month and the national champs in May.
Saturday’s event starts at 8am.
