June 21 – “First Annual Galveston County Firefighter Games”

We attended a truly historic event yesterday.  We drove into Texas (Downtown Texas City, in fact) to watch the First Annual Galveston County Firefighter Games.  We knew our friends Cathy and Lauren from Seaside were going to be there, so we connected with them.  

We arrived just as the fire truck parade was ending.  Totally missed the 5-K race that started at 7 a.m. (Read here a snap of the fingers and a cluck of the tongue and a big, “Aw, shucks.”).  It was easier than we expected to find a place to park.  In fact, we found a really shady spot just down the street from the barbecue cook-off tents, and just about a block from where Lauren and Cathy were.  So the smell of some good Texas cooking greeted us as we opened the car doors.  Jamaica Beach Volunteer Fire Department had a tent up and a pit going.  Travis and Ed had been on site since the night before cooking up some roast and ribs and chicken for the judging to come.  Go time for public consumption was noon, so we continued on through to where the rest of the action was heating up.

While we waited for everything to be set up I talked to several of the Galveston fire fighters that were there.  They had driven two trucks in the parade, but they didn’t have a team for any of the events.  Uh oh.  The challenge was on.  I don’t know if made its way to any of them, but I heard quite a few Texas City/Friendswood/League City double-dog dares tossed roughly in the direction of the Island.  Maybe next year.  And speaking of challenges, Jamaica Beach didn’t have a team either.  Little bit different reason for them, though.  They had to keep somebody in town in case of a call, plus they were also hosting the yearly Jamaica Beach hurricane preparedness meeting.  You can only stretch a volunteer department’s resources so far, I guess. 

The first event was pumper races.  This is what had to be canceled due to the weather threat at the state fire fighter convention that I went to, so I was excited to see them.  In this event a pumper crew had to start in the truck in full gear like they had just arrived at a fire.  The task was to hook up to a fire plug, stretch a hose 150 feet or so, get the pump turned on and spray the water, causing a target to spin.  Sounded easy, but after watching the first team go, I changed my mind.  Just getting the water to go where they wanted it was hard enough.  My favorite moment came when Friendswood’s guy finally got water to the nozzle and opened it up.  And the spray went directly into a crowd of Texas City fans (Who, by the way, were dressed in orange and black tutus and carrying signs.  The Firefighter Games is no small change in Texas City).  It took a lot of team work as well as some extreme individual effort.  Two Hitchcock teams took first and second in that event.  They were amazing.  Twenty-six and twenty-nine seconds.  Wow. 

I got to see a few more of the Galveston fire fighters.  Some of them work for volunteer departments on their off-days, like Chris Anderson.  Chris Livingston was helping over at the Jamaica Beach barbeque tent.  I had to take a sit-down break at one point.  The heat was on and the humidity was terrible, even with the nice breeze that was blowing.  We sat next to an older fellow (older than us, okay?) wearing a bright yellow shirt with “Captain Rock” embroidered on it.  He was a retired fire fighter and his department gave him the shirt when he left.  It was obvious that he was proud of his career with Texas City.  He mentioned a few of the old Galveston fire fighters he knew, and one of them was a guy I played summer baseball with, Frank Russo.  Never knew he became a fire fighter.  Small world.

The other big event of the day was called Waterball, I think.  Two dump trucks with their beds up had a cable run between them about a city block apart.  Hanging from the cable was a big ball.  Two water lines were charged and ready to go on the ground.  A team of four from each department had five minutes to shoot the ball with the water and force it across their opponent’s goal line as many times as possible.  Now that was a fun event to watch.  I’m sure the fire fighters were drenched when they finished, and before we left I heard some strategy talk of spraying the other team first and then going for the ball.  We didn’t see anybody do that while we were there, but it sure sounded fun.  Also sounded like something that could erupt into a full blown free for all. 

We left the waterball field primarily because we were hungry.  And it was past noon.  And Lauren had already heard from Ed that the barbeque was ready at the Jamaica Beach tent.  Now that was some good stuff. That raggedy-looking barbeque pit can sure produce some quality grub.   I don’t know the secret recipe for the chicken, but I’m pretty sure I saw a few strips of bacon somewhere in there.  Hard to go wrong with bacon.  My other favorite was the ribs.  We got to taste them “hot off the grill.”  Excellent.  That was an evening well-spent, Ed and Travis.  Thanks for sacrificing your good night’s sleep.  I still haven’t heard how they did in the judging, but this judge gives them a big thumbs up.  Oh, and I gotta admit it felt good when they said they “claimed me” as their chaplain.  I want to be there for them. 

This was a fun day all around.  I hope there was enough interest and participation to warrant a “Second Annual.”

Psalms 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

Father, keep watch over this strange and wonderful group of people that make up the whole firefighter family.  Protect them on shift and walk with their families.  Amen.