Firefighters from Carriere Volunteer Fire Department’s Over 40 team competed in the Firefighter Combat Challenge National Championships this weekend in Tyler, Texas.
Carriere’s relay team finished third place overall after beating their regional competition time from the previous weekend’s event in Montgomery by eight seconds.
The challenge is a sequence of five events designed to simulate firefighting skills and techniques while also testing physical abilities in a timed race against the other team. The competitors first have to climb a 5-story tower with a 42-pound hose pack on their back. Then, they must hoist the hose from the ground to the top of the tower. In the third event, competitors have to hit a target with a charged hose after pulling it through a 140-foot slalom course. The fourth event is intended to simulate a chopping motion. To do so, firefighters must move a 160-pound sled a horizontal distance of five feet by hitting it with a hammer. In the final event, they must carry a 175-pound mannequin 106 feet without grabbing its clothing or appendages.
In a relay race, each team member completes one event. Firefighters must be in full gear for the competition, including their helmet and breathing apparatus.
The members of Team Carriere are Michael Smith, Jason Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Jim Dischinger and Tom Henery. The team wore blue ribbons, dedicating their competition to Bailey Scharenbroch, daughter of local firefighter Tony Scharenbroch.

Carriere also supported two Over 40 tandem teams. A tandem involves the same events, but they must be executed by two firefighters instead of five. Aaron Bilbo and Tom Henery competed as a tandem, as well as Jason Mitchell and Michael Smith, who ran in a tandem in addition to the relay.
Donny Leonard and Tony Scharenbroch, members of Pearl River Central’s “On Fire for God” combat team, also competed in a tandem.
After finishing third in the country, Team Carriere has qualified to compete in the combat challenge world championships in Phoenix, Ariz. this November.