Firefighters to show off skills in Fire Muster
If your house were on fire, you wouldn’t want firefighters in this day and age trying to put out the flames by passing a bucket of water from one to another.
But the bucket brigade was one way fires were once fought, and that technique will be staged on Saturday as part of a friendly competition in downtown Yuma among area fire departments.
The Yuma, Somerton and San Luis fire departments, Rural/Metro and the Marine Corps Air Station’s Crash Fire Rescue, plus Yuma Regional Medical Center’s emergency room and the United Yuma Firefighters Ladies Auxiliary are fielding teams in the Fire Muster.
The annual event sponsored by United Yuma Firefighters takes place in the 300 block of Main Street, and besides the Budget Brigade, a total of 13 teams will compete in such events as the Hose Pull, the Make or Break and the Barrel Squirt, and if necessary to break a tie, the Firetruck Pull.
The Fire Muster is slated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and David Padilla Jr., a Yuma
firefighter and membership services director for United Yuma Firefighters, is inviting the public to watch the competition.
“It’s a great opportunity to come out and meet local firefighters and public safety (responders),” he said.
And between events, Padilla said, event organizers will offer demonstrations for the public on fire safely and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Admission to the event is free, while entry fees paid by the competing teams will go into a fund to help area firefighters and their families in time of medical need.
The Barrel Squirt may be the event spectators find
most exciting and most entertaining, Padilla said.
Two teams face off in this event, in which a keg hangs from an overhead line. Each team has a hose and sprays water at the keg in an effort to push it along the cable and toward the opposing team’s goal line. Padilla said the contest can drag on and on, with the keg suspended in limbo in a battle between opposing streams of water of equal force.
“It’s such a cool spectacle,” Padilla said. “Each team has the same hose pressure, so it’s really about advancing the hose line and not getting ahead of yourself.”
The first team to push the
keg across the opponent’s goal line is the winner. The teams representing the various fire departments will be divided up into brackets in this single elimination contest.
An event spectators also will find exciting will be the Make and Break, he said. Teams must unroll a long, unwieldy fire hose, attach the nozzle, spray water to knock over a cone and then remove the nozzle.
“These guys that are trained can do it in about 58 seconds,” Padilla said.
In the tie-breaker, the winning team is the one that pulls a fire truck a predetermined distance in the shortest amount of time, he said.
Trophies will be given out to the overall winner of the muster and to winners of individual events.
Overall sponsor of the Fire Muster is Chretin’s Mexican Restaurant. Other sponsors are Elite Tanning, Desert Valley Mortuary and Southwest Emergency Physicians.
Year after year, the Fire Muster is a crowd-pleaser, Padilla said. “It’s been amazing. I can’t say enough for the community that comes out to support us, and for the sponsors.”
Jumping castles will be set up near the event for kids’ enjoyment, and food and beverage vendors will be working the event as well, Padilla said.
“Water, drinks — anything people need (will be available). They can bring out their lawn chairs, have a seat and relax. It’s a great time.”