Two members of Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, Captain Cyril Fraser of E15 and Firefighter Joe Triff of E45, along with thirteen firefighters from across Canada, recently made the trip overseas to Dubai for a once in a lifetime training opportunity.

Over the span of seven days the pair conducted training camps on the Firefit Championships and Firefighter Challenge with teams of firefighters from all over the Middle East.  The final two days included a competition involving both the local teams as well as the Canadian team. Both our members had exceptional performances. Joe Triff won the overall event, beating out the defending World Champion from Waterloo in the final race of the day with a time of 1:28, 4 seconds faster than any other competitor.  Cyril Fraser was the fastest over 50 competitor and the pair of Fraser and Triff took second in the NXG tandem after narrowly being edged out by one-one hundreds of a second by a team from Sudbury.  The Canadian team was randomly divided into four man relay teams. Fraser and Triff ended up on the winning relay team.

The event was held as part of the Intersec Conference, the largest civil defence conference of its kind with over 17,000 visitors.

The competition was the first of its kind in the Middle East and was a positive one, building relationships between firefighters from opposite sides of the world. Working through language barriers and cultural differences added to the experience.  After the competition the Canadian team was treated to local traditions including a desert safari, traditional dance, food, camel rides and a trip to the top of the new Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, standing over 2700 feet tall. 

Fraser and Triff extend a special thanks to HRFE for their support of this journey and the continued support to our Combat Challenge Team.

Click here to view photos from Dubai