Kahnawake firefighters take on competition

The Kahnawake Fire Brigade (KFB) travelled to the Musqueam First Nation in British Columbia last week for the 35th edition of the annual National Firefighters Competition.

The team was led by captain Summer Martin, who was joined by her fellow firefighters Karonhiio Curotte, Lance McComber, Konwatharani Jacobs, Chad Diabo, and Jennifer Montour. It was Martin’s second year being involved in the competition, and she said it was a thrill to take command.

“It was a really, really good experience,” she said. “Being there and being team captain was a totally different feeling from just being on the team, but the whole team is what made us get there, and we all excelled in our own way.”

The team competed in various tasks, called “evolutions,” against seven other fire brigades. They did well throughout the competition, but found one task particularly hard and ended up picking up a few penalties that knocked them down to seventh place by the end of the competition.

That evolution saw the team participate in a bush pack relay, attempting to hit five targets with their water gear. The team did better in the portable pump relay and a thermal energy activity, and also excelled in the public safety presentation, where they came in first place for their presentation on smoke detectors from the junior firefighters.

“We didn’t just read off the board and the screen, we were actually interacting with the crowd and doing real public speaking, so we really did well in that part,” Martin said.

A highlight of the competition was being able to connect with other brigades across Turtle Island – particularly during that presentation, where the team had connected well with the audience.

“Meeting people from different departments and doing the whole competition was really good,” Martin said. “When you finished your evolution and did well, you could see that other people were seeing that and enjoying that too.”

Martin said the team also reconnected with a team they already knew who came from Beaver Lake, who the KFB were partnered with throughout the competition. They also met a team who came from Nunavut, who Martin said she hopes to continue a professional connection with going forward.

“They sent me a link to another training, which I’m going to talk to the fire hall about,” Martin said. “It was all really cool.”

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