Bandera Fire and Rescue’s fundraiser a massive success

Bandera Fire and Rescue (BFR) 2021 Fireman’s Challenge took the excitement and drama out of TV and movies and put it in Bandera City Park on Saturday, Oct. 23. Visitors got to see the real thing at a safe distance as local Volunteer Fire Departments had a friendly challenge. More about that further down.

BFR President Jeff Jilson had a big smile when he talked to the Bulletin. He said this is the fourth BFR Fund raiser and the best yet.

“Bandera Fire and Rescue 2021 Fireman’s Challenge was a huge success,” BFR President Jeff Jilson said with a big smile on his face. “We had a $10,000 goal and we made it.”

The Lone Star Sanctioned BBQ contest had a guaranteed $5,000 payout which brought in 18 BBQ contesting teams and the department received the entry fees from the contestants. BFR also sold BBQ lunch plates with brisket, sausage, potato salad, and beans. Elsewhere, Joe Ortega and son organized and ran a car show with 26 entries, donating the entry fees were donated to the Fire Department. “We had a cornhole tournament. A local DJ (Earnie Martinez) provided music, sound system and DJed the event. The local musician group Rebel Roxie played for a few hours,” Jilson said.

The actual Fireman’s Challenge was a competition between competing teams. The challenge was a modified Scott’s Combat Fireman’s challenge. The event consisted of two-man teams wearing their bunker gear, SCBA and masked up.

“We didn’t have the contestants breathing on the air tanks due to not having to refill the tanks on site. The first man had to hit the Keizer Sled with the mallet and move the sled the 7’, drop the mallet pick up the “high rise” hose pack and run 60’ slalom course. Drop the pack and high five tag his partner, the No. 2 man, ”Jilson said. The No. 2 man would then run forward with a charged hose towards the swinging doors. Once he breaks through the swinging doors he then knocks the ball off the cone with the stream of water from the hose. Once the ball is knocked off the cone the No. 2 man picks up the dummy mannequin and drags the mannequin back the 60’ to the finish line. It was a simple best team time was the winner kind of event.

“We had participants from Tarpley VFD, Castle Lake VFD, Medina VFD and Bandera Fire and Rescue. The winning team was combined team from both Medina VFD and BFR. The winners were Jason Anderssen from Medina VFD and Tanner Gooding from BFR. Their winning time was 00:49.58 seconds.

The second place team was another combination team of Romaine Content from BFR and Jonathan Reyna from Castle Lake VFD with a time of 00:49.61 seconds,” the BFR President

“Everyone seemed to have a good time. BFR was extremely pleased with the event, and we hope that next year’s challenge draws more teams from other Fire Departments,” said Jilson said.