Local heroes in Mossel Bay for ultimate firefighting challenge

The West Rand Municipality Emergency Services’ n’Zuri team are gearing up to take part in the 2023 Toughest Firefighter Alive (TFA) competition and are they looking to retain their title.

The competition will take place at the De Bakke beach in Mossel Bay from today, October 5 to 7.

TFA-SA is based on the international Toughest Firefighter Alive Challenge, which falls under the umbrella event of the World Firefighter Games (WFG). The WFG started in Auckland, New Zealand 1990 and is held in a different country every two years with the winner of the TFA Competition at the WFG being crowned the World’s Toughest Firefighter Alive, a very prestigious award for people who work for emergency services in the world.

The TFA is South Africa’s premier firefighter event which was held for the first time at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town during October 2011. A total of 80 participants competed for top honours against many brave and dedicated firefighters. The event has been primarily hosted in Cape Town followed by George in 2016 and now Mossel Bay in 2023.

On September 30, community organisation Friends of Emergency held a breakfast handover at Silverstar to wish participating firefighters the best of luck for this weekend as they hope to return home with their title retained and put the spotlight on the West Rand.

The nine members of the n’Zuri were handed their uniforms and hoped to impress. The team is made up of firefighters from the West Rand District Municipality and the West Rand Working on Fire (WoF) team.

It’s said the competition will be intense as teams are becoming more competent with the best against the best. The top 20 to 30 individuals and the best relay teams will face each other to encourage top performance. This year’s edition also holds special significance because the top-performing firefighters will be chosen to represent South Africa at the next World Toughest Firefighter Alive championship to be held at the WFG in Denmark in 2024.

Individuals and corporates are encouraged to support this event aimed at enhancing service delivery through fitter, stronger firefighters, building community relations, motivating firefighters and restoring local and national pride in the fire services.

Friends of Emergency Services hope that their team will return with top honours and have sent a heartfelt message for the team and their sponsors as they are all set and go for the weekend.

“We would like to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to our sponsors for their incredible support. Your unwavering commitment to this cause has truly made a world of difference and we couldn’t be more thankful we wish our fighters all the best for the competition,” concluded co-founder of Friends Of Emergency Services, Dale Mac Rae.