A day in the life...First Due Firefighter Camp – Day 9

 Rhonda Griffin

The scorching heat of the day didn't keep the cadets of the First Due Firefighter Camp from doing their jobs – and doing them well.

Thursday afternoon brought the 17 junior firefighters to White Lake to the site where the annual Firefighter Competition is held during the White Lake Water Festival. The object of the competition seemed simple enough – teams of cadets were to have a water battle over a large, metal 5-gallon barrel that is suspended from a wire that spans across an open field. Two teams of four or five cadets each grabbed a hose, aimed for the barrel and battled to see which team could make the other back down. But in watching the teams of each other on, the competition was clearly anything but simple.

The first two teams of competitors started in full turnout gear, but quickly realized the blazing heat of the day simply wouldn't allow it. So the rest donned their boots, pants and helmets during their turns at the nozzle as fellow cadets and instructors cheered them on.

During the competition, the cadets certainly had their game faces on … and it was evident that none of them wanted to back down, making each victory hard won for their opponents. But at the end of the day, the whole group was all smiles as a team of cadets took on the instructors, which ended in a victory for the instructors followed by a full-on water fight/slip-n-slide that left not a dry stitch of clothing on any of the competitors.

At 8 a.m. Friday, the cadets will begin their final day of the camp, which has been hosted by the Elizabethtown Fire Department, followed by a graduation Friday evening in the Elizabethtown Baptist Church Activity Center.