SINGAPORE – With the sun blazing down, nine Singapore Civil Defence Force officers sprint, climb and haul themselves through a three-storey obstacle course – all hoping  to represent the force in the Singapore Global Firefighters and Paramedics Challenge (SGFPC).

The obstacle course is part of the annual competition’s Braveheart segment, and is one of the many challenges that will take place during the games on Saturday (Nov 23).

Each year, participants from firefighting and emergency response teams around the world come together to pit their skills, strength and speed against one another in scenario-based challenges.

This year, participants from 13 organisations from countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam will be taking part.

The Braveheart segment will see emergency responders put themselves through eight stages of competition that include carrying two 15kg hoses, climbing up a tower and rappelling down its side with a 40kg mannequin, and traversing 35m on a rope.

The cut-off time to qualify for the segment is 10 minutes. And when The Straits Times visited the SCDF selections held last Tuesday (Nov 12), most officers did it in just over five.

Two of the officers with the fastest timings were selected to represent the SCDF at the heats on Friday (Nov 22), and one of them is First Warrant Officer (WO1) Azmir Ali Ameer Ali, 34, from the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart). 

A torn knee ligament had put the three-time Braveheart champion out of action from the games for the past two years. But during Tuesday’s selections, WO1 Azmir Ali, who has been with the force for the last decade, emerged top, clocking a timing of less than five minutes for the gruelling course.

“This is the first time I’m back (in the games) after my injury, so I’m quite nervous because I’ve been out for some time,” he said, adding that he has been running and doing strength training to get back into shape.

His secret to winning?

“The trick is to do it once, and do it smoothly. And at the same time do it doubly fast,” said WO1 Azmir Ali, adding that despite his past wins he will still give it “110 per cent”.

While it might seem effortless, the Dart specialist says the hardest part in tackling the course is when he has to pull himself across a taut rope. “It feels like it might never end. And it’s the last stage where you’re exhausted, that’s the killer,” he said.

Another segment of the games will see four-member teams responding to a road traffic “accident” and extricating a “casualty” trapped in a vehicle, in what is known as the Rip-it-off challenge.

Team leader, Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Muhammad Fitri Abdul Ghafar, also from Dart, said his team spent the last two months “cutting” open scrap cars to prepare for the segment.

SSgt Fitri, 31, noted that in a real-life road traffic accident this could mean the difference between life and death.

“We want to extricate any people trapped as fast as possible and in the safest way possible,” he said after a training session in which the team stabilised the wheels of a small hatchback, before removing the two doors on the car’s left side to “rescue” the “casualty” inside.

While the competition tests the officers’ wits and limits, SSgt Fitri says taking part in the annual games is not just about winning as training for the challenges help them do better in their everyday work.

“At the end of the day, I believe that the No. 1 aim for all emergency responders is to help those in need and rescue them as fast we can,” he said.This year, the SGFPC is held in conjunction with the Home Team Festival and will be taking place at Singapore Expo Halls 2 and 3 this Friday and Saturday (Nov 22 and 23).

Admission is free.

For details, visit www.scdf.gov.sg/sgfpc.

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