ETBU Lady Tigers come to fire department’s rescue

March 11, 2010

MARSHALL—Fire trucks, ladder trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles arrived in the parking lot of Ornelas Stadium at East Texas Baptist University one Friday afternoon recently.

They were not there for an emergency but rather to conduct an agility test. After more than 30 years of using the same testing facility, a new one was being developed at ETBU.

 

East Texas Baptist University softball player Ashton Brey pulls a 175- pound rescue dummy as she finishes the last event of an eight-event obstacle course. ETBU female athletes helped the Marshall Fire Department develop a standard baseline time for the course.

“ETBU’s Randy Pringle was a big help in assisting the department in designing an obstacle course using the parking lot, as well as the inside of the stadium, to place each station that had to be similar to an active firefighting operation,” he explained

Every current Marshall fireman age 18 to 36 years old was required to run through a series of eight timed events. These eight events were exhaust fan carry, stair climb, ladder raise, ladder removal, hydrant exercise, hose advance, hammer sled and rescue dummy drag. Since this was a new course, a baseline, or a standard time, had to be calculated to determine a pass or fail mark.

After the firemen’s times were recorded and averaged to determine the standard baseline time, one question was left in mind: What about female firefighters? Currently the Marshall Fire Department does not have any female firefighters employed.

“The department needed females who were in good physical shape to run through the course to make sure our baseline time was not biased,” said Dunagan.

The fire department turned to ETBU’s women’s softball and soccer teams to volunteer to run the course.

“I thought the course looked very challenging,” said soccer player Danica Saxon from Tyler. “The part that gave me the most trouble was dragging a 175-pound rescue dummy 30 yards. This event came at the very end of the course, and it took a lot of upper-body strength.”

After Ashton Brey, a softball player from Lindale, ran the course, she called her father, a swing lieutenant for the Dallas Fire Department. “The course was tough, and I was just hoping I was going to be able to stay standing up when I finished,” she said.

Overall, the experience was very rewarding for all the ETBU athletes who participated. “It was just an amazing feeling to be one of the people to help the Marshall Fire Department out,” said softball player Megan Surovik from Belton. “I told each one of the firefighters that I was amazed by the things they have to go through fighting fires. I hold my head high to firefighters,” said Surovik.