Everyone gets wet at Mullan Fire Fest!
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Teams square off during the bucket tug of war challenge.
The Silver Valley Fire and Rescue team hand each other buckets of water during the bucket brigade challenge.
Right on target! Teams in the tug of war event had to deal with getting hit with water while aiming their hose.
A member of the Mullan Volunteer Fire Department team aims the hose at a target in the make and brake competition.
The tug of war bucket thrashes around as it is hit with water from both sides.
MULLAN — The city of Mullan looked reminiscent of a water park this weekend when the Mullan Volunteer Fire Department hosted their 48th Mullan Fireman’s Fun Festival in the heart of town.
The two-day event featured several activities, including a parade, home-cooked breakfast, kids’ games, and of course, the famous firefighter competition.
This year’s competition had eight teams (made up of fire personnel and competitive civilians) battle it out in the three water-drenched, firefighting-based events.
The first event was the Make-n-Break relays where teams had to assemble a fire hose, hook it up to a source of water (in the first round, a hydrant, then a fire truck in the next), knock over targets with water, then disassemble the hose as quickly as possible. The winner was the team that completed the relay in the fastest time.
Up next was the Bucket Brigade challenge. In this event, participants handed off buckets of water to each other up a small scaffold, then dumped it out as quickly as possible. The team that filled up a large tub at the top of the scaffold in the shortest amount of time took first place. This throwback event showed how fires used to be put out before modern equipment.
To cap off the competition portion of the festival, teams dueled with fire hoses in the tug-of-war competition. Participants attempted to push a barrel, connected to a hanging steel line, over the head of their opponents with the help of fire hoses. This is easier said than done when you are also having to withstand getting hit with water from the team opposite of you.
Throughout the competitions, vendor booths were available to provide spectators a cold beverage or a hot meal.
Ironically, the competitions wrapped up right before a large rain storm made sure that everyone was soaked.
On Sunday, more than 50 local kids also had the opportunity to compete in their own firefighter competitions.
MVFD Chief Steve Trogden was pleased with this year’s turnout and thankful to those who helped bring it together.
“Fireman’s Fun Festival again was a great success,” he said. “I would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time in helping throughout the week and weekend during events. The parade had a lot of creativity. Thank you for participating.”
In addition to being an event that brings attention to Mullan, all the money raised goes back to MVFD or other local organizations that held their own fundraisers, such as local schools, the Mullan library and the community foundation.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser, since we are all volunteers,” MVFD firefighter and treasurer Deanne Johnson said. “There’s a lot of things we actually need to get for our fire department this year because we have brought on extra volunteers and now we’re trying to figure out turnouts for everybody and they are very expensive.”
Winners from this year’s
event are as follows:
Firefighter competition:
1st place — MVFD
2nd place — Silver Valley Fire and Rescue
3rd place — The Wells Family
Raffle winners:
Terry Skantel — Portable hammock
Harold Durfee — $25
Mike & Jonie Renteria — $25
Julie Petit — $25
Rick Smith — $25
Dale Stepro Sr. — $50
Tara Pierce — $50
Debbie Morris — $100
Oaces MT. — $100
Terry Skantel — $200
Parade winners:
Grace Farrell, Cael Sala, Colton Sala, Teagan Sala, Ayden Murry and Alivia Murry.