ASSINIBOIA — This is not his first competition, nor his first success story. Assiniboia firefighter, Riley Malone, captured a silver medal in the open men’s division at the Fire Fit competition held in Martensville June 7.
“There were four of us that competed in Martensville. Nathan Rust and Lewis Harvey competed in the individual and then we teamed up with Kurtis Thompson from town for the team relay event,” said Malone
This is the second event of the season for Malone, who also competed in Medicine Hat, Alta. The weekend previous.
“The training part is a year-round process for me. This is my fourth season competing, so the training gets to be a little easier. Once the snow melts and we are able to get outside, we start practical training as well as gym workouts throughout the week,” explains Malone.
The Assiniboia firefighter says all summer, he will continue to do practical work along with gym sessions to prepare for the national competition upcoming in September, hosted in St. Catharines, Ont.
Malone says once the season is over, he heads back to the gym to work on becoming faster and stronger for the upcoming season.
“It definitely takes up a lot of time and can be difficult to juggle everyday life with training. I usually go early in the morning before work, so if something comes up in the evening, I don't have to worry about not getting a workout in. If a free evening opens up, then that is when we will do the practical. If weekends are freed up, I try and get to Regina to train there because they have an actual tower, which makes it more realistic,” adds the Fire Fit silver medalist.
Assiniboia is preparing to host the Saskatchewan/Manitoba regional Fire Fit event in 2026, with dates set for June 20-21. Malone says it’s an open event and three different challenges will take place, with Saturday offering individual race day and Sunday is relay day.
“In the individual event, you complete the whole course with all your bunker gear on while breathing through an SCBA. There are two different relays, Tech 2 and Team relay. The Tech 2 is a two-man relay with a bottle swap and the team relay you have teams of three to five competitors, with each teammate completing a task or two while passing a baton between stages. These races, you still wear all your gear and SCBA pack, but you don't breathe through a mask.”
Malone says the team at Assiniboia Fire Department, as part of their community engagement, host an open house and barbecue for the community to come out and meet their volunteer firefighters and check out some of the equipment they use. AFD members also do fire drills with the younger students during fire prevention week, as well as a mock crash with the high school to show how their operations work during certain conditions.
