Four Fort Wayne Fire Department firefighters will be leaving in the next two weeks to compete in the 2007 World Police & Fire Games in Adelaide, Australia, March 16-25. The firefighters are: Dan Newport, Bryan Peterson, Lester Sorgen and Joe Tarney. Fort Wayne Police Officer Sonia Atienzo will travel to the games to compete in softball and Melinda Webb, a Muncie, Ind., Fire Department firefighter will be competing with Sorgen as a team in one of the golf events.
Over 8,000 international firefighters, law enforcement, customs and corrections officers will be competing in 79 sports across 50 venues over 10 days.
The FWFD firefighters, who are each paying for their trips, will be competing in two categories: Golf and Muster. The Golf event will be played on three courses outside of Adelaide. It is a Stroke-Play Tournament with medals given to the top three in each of four categories, Handicap Singles (separate Men's and Women's Singles), 2-Person Unisex Handicap Team, Scratch Singles (Separate Men's & Women's Singles), and, 2-Person Unisex Scratch Team. Sorgen and Webb will be competing in the 2-Person Unisex Handicap Competition as will Newport and Tarney who will be matched with female golfing partners from another country (not the United States). Sorgen and Webb both won gold medals in their individual events in Indianapolis in 2001 and decided they wanted to compete as a team when their schedules allowed.
The Muster Competition consists of two events, the Bucket Brigade and the Hose Cart. The Bucket Brigade is where the team picks up a ladder, runs to the water tower, raises the ladder to the tower and then begins filling the dump tank at the top of the tower with water from below which is being passed in buckets, hand-to-hand until the dump tank is full. The Hose Cart is when the team is competing against the clock to complete a sequence involving running a car, connecting a hose, starting water flow and squirting down a target.
Atienzo will be competing on the Guns & Roses Team in the slow-pitch softball tournament located outside of Adelaide.
Held biennially, the World Police & Fire Games began in California in 1985. They were hosted in Indianapolis in 2001. Additional information about these games is available at http://www.2007wpfg.com/
