FORT GORDON, Ga. (Oct. 16, 2015) - A Fort Gordon firefighter competed at the 2015 U.S. Nationals in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge Oct. 2 in Farmers Branch, Texas, and won. The challenge is equivalent to a Firefighter Iron Man competition.
Brandon Cunningham, a captain in operations for the Fort Gordon Fire Department, took home his eighth national win.
He has won the U.S. World title nine times and plans to do it again when he leaves for the competition Sunday where he will compete in the open male tandem, open co-ed tandem, and the hybrid relay in Montgomery, Alabama.
"The challenge opened the hybrid relay to individuals who don't have a team," Cunningham explained. "I can compete with anyone in the country and I will be on a team with a firefighter from Charlotte, North Carolina; Arlington, Texas; and a firefighter from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
"We won't train together, but we will communicate a lot before the competition via phone, emails, and Facebook to help us prepare for the competition."
The Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge annually attracts about 600 U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments at more than 25 locations and has expanded to countries around the world, including New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Chile, and South Africa. The Challenge, which is televised on ESPN, seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession's rigors to the public.
The annual fitness competition for firefighters simulates real life challenges.
"Most of our work is done inside, (in a burning building), and people don't really see all we do such as pulling fully charged water hoses, using a sledgehammer to break through walls or doors, going up and down stairs, and carrying victims out to safe," Cunningham explained.
During the competition at regional, national and world levels, firefighters wearing "full bunker gear" and the Scott 5.5 Air-Pak breathing apparatus, race against each other simulating the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing a six-story tower carrying a 70 millimeter, 19 kilogram flaked hose; hoisting a 70 mm hose coil sixstories;choppingusinga4kg hammer to drive a beam 1.5 meters; extending a fully charged 45 mm hose to knock down a disc; and dragging a 175 pound life -size mannequin backward for a distance of 30.5m as the firefighters race against themselves, their opponent, and the clock. Mistakes can cost valuable seconds and result in penalties.
The Grovetown resident has been competing a number of years in the challenge.
"This is my 12th year to compete," Cunningham explained. "I started in 2003 when I served on active duty with the Air Force while stationed at Rhein Main Air Base in Germany. I didn't win every single year because I took a couple of years off. I didn't do anything with the competition in 2012 and 2014."
"The last time Fort Gordon supported a team for the competition was in 2007," he said. "We won at the National and U.S. World Competitions. Individually, we have won 30 or 40 regional competitions from coast to coast."
At the 2015 national competition Cunningham teamed up with Jacqueline Palmer of the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue in the co-ed tandem and placed first with a time of 1 minute and 28:43 seconds. During the male tandem competition, Shane Farmer and Cunningham placed third with a finishing time of 1:17:01.
The towering 6-foot-plus firefighter spends quite a lot of his own time preparing for a competition.
"I usually train five to six days a week for a competition," Cunningham said. "In preparation for the nationals I spend 50 percent of my time working on skills, such as running stairs, using firefighter props and the other 50 percent working out in the gym using cross fit training. For the world competition I plan to spend more time on skill work."
Although Cunningham enjoys competing because he knows it prepares him to meet the physical demands of his job, this year will be the last time he participates in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge.
"I have a lot of things going on in my life," he explained. "I just had a new daughter born four months ago. That's a huge part of my decision; I want to spend more time with my kids. My son, who is 7 now, has his own activities he is involved in."
"I have done just about everything there is in this sport (the Scott Safety Firefighter Combat Challenge)," he said. "I think if I can go out and win one of the three events Oct. 19, which would make my tenth World Champions win, that would be enough. I will be content."
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