Local News
Email
Print
A Trial by Fire: Winston-Salem puts female firefighter team in competition
Journal Photo by Walt Unks
On the Firefighter Challenge team are (from left) firefighter Amy Harris, engineer Marlene Kostyrka and firefighter Danielle White.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 17, 2009
Updated: 11/17/2009 12:05 am
For firefighters, the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge is akin to the Olympics.
The competition is a chance for them to test their physical fitness in an obstacle course that simulates some of the challenges firefighters see on the job. They haul water-filled hoses, drag mannequins and run up flights of stairs in full gear.
Over the years, men from the Winston-Salem Fire Department have distinguished themselves in the competition, winning national and world titles.
This year for the first time, the city's fire department is fielding a women's team.
Danielle White, Joy Lacy, Amy Harris and Marlene Kostyrka are members of a relay team that will compete today at the world championship in Las Vegas. If they perform well, they will advance to the finals later this week.
About 120 men's and 10 women's relay teams will compete. There also are individual and tandem events.
Harris, who has been a firefighter for 11 years, sent out an e-mail to the department's 12 women firefighters about the first of the year to gauge interest. She played basketball and softball growing up but hadn't been particularly active since then.
"I just bowl now," she said. "This was a way to get back in shape."
White and Lacy also saw the team as a way to get in shape. Kostyrka, who has competed in several triathlons, was already fit but saw the team as a way to bond with other women firefighters.
The relay will work like this -- Kostyrka, wearing about 50 pounds of clothing and a 45-pound hose pack, will race up five flights of stairs. Once on top of the tower, she will pass the baton to White, also known as "The Beast" for her upper-body strength.
White will hoist a 42-pound hose up the side of the tower, then race down the stairs and pass off to Harris, who will take a nine-pound sledge hammer and deliver several blows to a 160-pound beam that is used in forcible entry situations. Harris must deliver enough swings to move the beam 5 feet.
Once finished, Harris will pass the baton to Kostyrka who will run through a series of cones. Next, Lacy will drag a 100-pound hose weighted down with water about 75 feet.
White will finish the relay by dragging a 175-pound dummy 100 feet. The same course is used for men, individuals and tandem teams.
In preparation, the women began working out in late winter two times a week with trainers from Piedmont Nutrition and Fitness in Greensboro.
It wasn't always fun.
Harris often will tell Kostyrka she hates her for making her run.
"I hate running," she said. "They don't force me, but they motivate me to do things I don't want to do."
The women also worked out some with the men, who occasionally train at a parking deck that has many of the same features as the course will have.
To qualify for the world championship, the women needed to finish in less than three minutes. In their first attempt in May, they finished in 3:17. In August, they whittled that time to 2:57 to qualify. Their best time is 2:35.
To win or medal in the competition, they will need a time of about 1:55.
Kostyrka said the goal for this year is to be competitive and have fun.
The women have already benefitted in big ways. Lacy and Harris each have lost about 30 pounds, and they say the strength they have gained will help them at work.
"In order to do this job, you have to stay in shape," Kostyrka said. "If you get trapped in a house, you want to get out, and that takes a lot of strength and endurance."
Duane Cheek, who is among the seven male firefighters competing in Las Vegas, said he is happy to see a team of women representing the city.
"It's great to have them out there, and we'll be cheering them on when they run, and they'll be cheering us on when we run," Cheek said.
lodonnell@wsjournal.com
727-7420
Email
Print
