Calling Firefighters, Even Children To The Combat Challenge!

The City of Pittsfield, MA Fire Department is excited to announce that the “3M Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge” is returning to Berkshire County in 2021! The event is presented by Berkshire Money Management and will take place September 16-18 at Berkshire Crossing.

There will also be a scaled-down version of the event called the Greylock Federal Credit Union Kid’s Crawl, Drag, and Squirt Course. It is FREE for children ages 4-12. The full competition course, as seen on ESPN for over a decade and now televised on FFCC.com and ESPN3, will be set up at Berkshire Crossing (555 Hubbard Avenue, Pittsfield MA) where everyone will be invited to join us. There will be food trucks, fire safety demos, and Eversource will have a demo as well.

We will have OUR own Pittsfield and local Berkshire County firefighters competing. The Berkshire County Special Response Team will race Pittsfield Fire in an exhibition relay. There will be firefighters from across the state and country and firefighters from Canada and across the globe traveling for the “Two toughest minutes in sports.” Retired firefighters are also welcome to compete.

The Challenge annually attracts hundreds of U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments at more than 25 locations and is now expanding to countries around the world, including New Zealand, Poland, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Dubai, Slovenia, France and South Africa. The Challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession's rigors to the public.

Wearing "full bunker gear" and the SCOTT Air-Pak breathing apparatus, pairs of competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks, including climbing the five-story tower carrying a 45-lb. hose pack, hoisting a 42-lb. hose pack from the ground, chopping a 160-lb. I-beam to move it 5’, dragging charged hoses and dragging a life-sized, 175-lb "victim" 100’ as they race against themselves, their opponents and the clock.

There is a national event held each year to see who is the “Best of the Best” in the United States. Shortly after that, there is a World competition in which all of the countries compete for the World titles. There are both male and female firefighter competitors ranging from 18 to 70 years old. It is deemed “The Toughest Two Minutes in Sports” by ESPN.

TO COMPETE AND FOR MORE INFO REGISTER HERE.