Neil Paton and Brad Edwards prepare for firefighting challenge Championship in Nashville. Video / Michaela Gower
For volunteer Hawke’s Bay and Tararua firefighters Neil Paton and Brad Edwards, fighting fires and racing against the clock is something they know how to do well.
Paton, a 55-year-old Norsewood dairy farmer, and Edwards, a 47-year-old truck driver from Napier, are in training to tackle the World Firefighting Championship.
The men are part of a team of 20 self-funded New Zealanders heading to Nashville in the United States for a six-day competition from October 20, taking with them their firefighting kits.
There, under the team name Smokey and the Bandit, they will undertake four days of qualifying competitions and two days of finals.
The challenge includes climbing six flights of stairs with a 20kg high-rise pack and hoisting a 19kg roll of hose up the side of the building before the stair descent.
Neil Paton (left) and Brad Edwards will take on other counties in a bid to be the best. Photo / Michaela Gower
The competitor must then replicate a forcible entry using a 4kg mallet to drive a sled beam weighing 72.5kg a distance of 1.5m.
They then make their way through an obstacle course negotiating a slalom course of 42.6m and pick up a charged hose to drag it 22.8m through swinging doors shooting down a target with water.
Finally, the firefighter must drag a mannequin weighing 79.4kg for 32.2m, replicating a victim rescue, to finish the course.
The catch - all this must be completed full firefighting equipment and with each age group under a certain time.
Paton competed last year in Florida in a tandem team with a firefighter from the United States, placing seventh in the competition.
“You can interact with different countries and everybody is a big family.”
He said the training undertaken to be a firefighter played a massive role in their readiness for the competition.
“It makes you fire fit so you are ready to respond and be on the top of your game.”
Edwards, a first-time participant, said it was during a stint at the Norsewood Fire Service that he met his teammate.
He became a firefighter about 13 years ago, wanting to do his part for the community after finishing up with the Coastguard.
Edwards was “nervous and excited” to head to the US and said the opportunity gave him another interest in the fire service and a goal to work towards.
“You want to go over there and give it your best. They call it the toughest two minutes of sport; there are professional rugby players that haven’t been able to complete the course.
“It’s you against the clock and, even though you are racing somebody else at the same time, your race isn’t with them - it’s with you and the clock.”
He said times below three minutes were considered excellent, and below five was acceptable, Edwards was aiming for below three minutes.
The men will continue to train and fundraise before they head overseas on October 15.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
