Stephenville resident competes at international firefighting competition

Craig Harnum says travelling to the United Arab Emerate state of Dubai for a firefighting competition was an unbelievable experience.
Mr. Harnum was one of a team of firefighters chosen from across Canada to compete as team Canada in the first United Arab Emirates International FireFit Championship held in Dubai Jan. 17 - 19.
The team was invited to take part in the competition by the department of Civil Defense in Dubai, which operates the country's fire service. Mr. Harnum says the challenge was a way for the firefighters to come together and share their knowledge and experiences with their Dubai counterparts.
He says doing a challenge that typically takes place on Canadian soil did present its challenges.
"Everything was shipped down from Canada, but it was late arriving. So the only thing there when we got there was a scaffold tower constructed," he says.
"The tower wasn't structured all that great, it was a man made scaffold tower. We actually retrofitted it as best we could but it was nowhere near the FireFit tower and that slowed everybody down a bit."
He says team Canada trained with the host team the day before the official event and showed them how the course was run.
"It was quite interesting, because they were very eager to learn. The people were fantastic."
For the competition, he says team Canada divided itself into four teams to make the competition more interesting for spectators, the presence of one spectator in particular was a surprise.
"Actually the Shiek of the Dubai came and watched the event," he says. "He sat down and spoke to every member of team Canada, thanked us for coming, for showing them our sport. They actually made us honourary members of the Dubai Civil Defense."
In the days leading up to the competition, Mr. Harnum says the team was treated to tours of the city of Dubai, which included a trek to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest man-made structure, which opened to Jan. 1.
"It was probably a little bit unbelievable," he says of the building. "The elevator actually travels at 32 feet a second, but you don't know you're moving, the way they have it timed and structured. It takes exactly 44 seconds to go up."
Mr. Harnum says he brought items from home to give away, such as Team Canada hats and jerseys, which he says children were eager to receive.
"They love Canada," he says, adding he also got to attend an international fire show and promote the Marine Institute's SERT Centre, of which he is manager.
Coming away from the experience, Mr. Harnum says has a whole new vision of the Middle East.
"We think unrest, war, riots and violence," he says. "But we went back to the days of respect for elders, for law enforcement. People were very courteous, which is not what we were expecting. It was pretty well the way Newfoundlanders are noted for treating people. It was fantastic and they couldn't do enough to help you."
Team Canada did well in the event, with one team member from Halifax winning an individual award and Mr. Harnum's team winning the relay event.
reporter@thegeorgian.ca