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McKeespor t
McKeesport Area | Spring 2014 | icmags.com 37
ews
By Annette James
eesport N
CERCI
of Mc K
CHRIS
id you know that one of
the McKeesport firefighters
competes in Firefighter Combat
Challenges? Chris Cerci, who began
his career as a volunteer with Bethel
Park Volunteer Fire Department in
1993, is McKeesport’s competitive
firefighter. He is currently a full-time
firefighter in here in the city, as well
as part-time with Peters Township
and Swissvale. When he’s not busy at
work, he is busy working out at the
gym, or spending time with his 3 year
old twin daughters.
Chris first competed in the
Firefighter Combat Challenge in
2001, and currently continues to
compete. In case you’re wondering
what this entails, it is an extreme
firefighting obstacle course that
demonstrates the rigors of real-life
firefighting. The event includes
climbing a five story tower while
carrying a 45 pound hose pack. Once
at the top of the tower, you hoist the
roll of hose from the ground over
the top rail, run down the tower,
mount the keiser force machine, and
drive a 165 pound metal beam 5 feet
with a 9 pound shot mallot. Once
completing that, you run 125 feet
through a serpentine course, grab a
charged 1 ¾” hose line, advance in
75 feet, knock down a target with a
stream of water, then lift and drag a
175 pound life-sized mannequin 100
feet to the finish line. This is all done
while wearing full protective gear
and an air pack!
The Firefighter Combat Challenge
lasts all day, and consists of a series of
four workouts. The specific workout
is not released until the day before
the competition takes place, making
it even harder. If a competitor scores
high enough, they move on to the
championship final workout the
following d