Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) held the finals of the First Annual Benchmark Firefighting Competition during its 2009 Fire and Rescue Expo on February 7, 2009 at Tropical Park.

The Benchmark Firefighting Competition was developed in 2008 by the MDFR Training Division to motivate firefighters and update the department's standards for responding to fires.  The contest starts when the fire truck stops at a fire hydrant and ends when fire crews deploy two hoses and begin flowing water at a predetermined pressure.  This type of drill, known as an evolution in the fire service, is practiced daily by MDFR personnel to enhance their firefighting skills.  Sharpening these skills can mean the difference between life and death since the temperature inside a house fire doubles as every minute passes.

More than 50 MDFR units participated in the preliminary rounds which began in November.  Cities from Homestead to Aventura were represented by their neighborhood fire stations.  On January 27, 2009, the top 25 fire rescue teams began the second round of competition to crown the district/shift Champions and to determine who would battle for the countywide championship.  The six teams with the fastest times from their respective district and shift advanced to the finals. 

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the recommended time allowed to complete this evolution is three minutes. The NFPA establishes standards for this and about a dozen other fireground tasks and serves as a point of reference to assess performance.  Most of the teams completed the evolution in less than one and a half minutes, demonstrating that MDFR's service far exceeds the National Standard.  The final heat consisted of units from MDFR's Miami Lakes Fire Station 1 and Kendall Fire Station 9.  While the crew from Rescue 1 B-Shift posted a department record time of one minute and six seconds in the semi-finals, they fell short to the crew from Rescue 9 B-Shift in the finals by a mere second.  Rescue 1 posted a time of one minute and nine seconds and Rescue 9 posted a time of one minute and eight seconds.

Rescue 9 will have the opportunity to defend its title at the 2010 Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Expo.

For further information, please contact MDFR's Media and Public Relations Bureau at 786-331-5200.