Firefighters compete in FTA SA championships in George

Firefighters from across the country have gathered in George in the Western Cape to test their strength, endurance and teamwork in one of the toughest competitions on the planet, the Toughest Firefighter Alive South Africa (TFA SA) championships.

The TFA SA is hosted in partnership with the Garden Route District Municipality, George Municipality, and industry partners.

A total of 42 teams from across the country registered for the competition, and there were about 160 individual entries.

The challenge consists of dragging heavy hoses, carrying life-size dummies to scaling towers.

TFA SA Founder Mark Smith says it also serves as a platform to qualify for the World Firefighter Games (WFG).

Smith says, “The aim of the competition is to test the resilience of the firefighters, their fitness levels and also to get our best firefighters to compete overseas at the World Firefighter Games, where the best firefighters in the world compete against each other.”

“So this is the trial for the South African firefighters. It’s grown substantially and the levels of competition has increased. We’re very pleased with the growth. It’s becoming one of the biggest events of its kind in SA,”Smith adds.

Local Garden Route District firefighter and seven-time National Champion Emile Conrad once again showed why he deserves the title.

He assisted in organising this year’s event while also taking time to train.

Conrad says, “Both me and my wife are firefighters, so it’s heavy schedules, our kids and those kinds of things. We’ve got an area at home to train. I train at Wings Elite Fitness. At work I do some as well. So I try and squeeze in my training where I can to stay consistent.”

His wife, Bonita shares in the pride of her husband’s incredible achievements.

She says, “I’m so proud of what he did today, he did so well…this job is rewarding in itself. Every time you go out and help people, it’s really a reward in itself.”