Some background...
Retired Fire Chief Randy Bruegman has headed departments in Illinois (Hoffman Estates) where I first met him while developing a Physical Ability Test for that organization; then followed tenures in Oregon, followed by Fresno and Anaheim, California.
He now hosts a podcast entitled Fired Up and Plugged In. You can view my participation here. Or, Spotify.
It was an honor to spend some time with Randy, discussing the origins of the Firefighter Challenge- taking me all the way back to my tenure at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health, Sports Medicine Center under the aegis of the School of Kinesiology.
Hopefully, we can reduce some of the confusion of who exactly invented the Challenge. Simply stated, there is no form of climbing under load, hoisting, forcible entry, hose advance and victim rescue other than the Intellectual Property (IP) protected by Federally and EU Registered Trademarks and Copyrights that were created by me.
While imitation is the highest form of flattery, when you steal and claim it as your own, we would hope that being exposed would result in some embarrassment- at the least.
Understand, the research that is the underpinning of the Challenge has its roots in my career in the fire service that started in June of 1966. The Five Essential Tasks™ were created in 1975. I don't think that any of the current pirates were even out of diapers during this epoch.
These knock-offs hurt the brand, especially when claims for owning "World Records" as well as confuse the public who might not be astute in their understanding of what is the real Challenge.
People who play by the rules own a license to run events that are compliant with the Official Rules as published on our website: www.FirefighterChallenge.com
If you'd like to know more details on how you can join the consortium of licensees, feel free to reach out by email or telephone.
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