Firefighters
LAS VEGAS -- Staff Sgt. Brian Burmeister, 21st Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, pulls up a rolled hose during the 2009 Firefighter Combat Challenge Nov. 16 to 20 in Las Vegas. Team Pete was named the Rookie of the Year Team in its first full year of competing in the annual event. The challenge attracts hundreds of U.S. and Canadian firefighters to a competition which demonstrates firefighters’ fitness and the rigors of the profession. Wearing full bunker gear, firefighters race in relays and in tandem head-to-head performing five tasks including climbing a five-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-size 175 pound “victim.” (Air Force photo by John Van Winkle)