Firematic Racing
| Highest governing body | New York State Volunteer Firemen's Parade and Drill Team Captains Association |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Firematic racing Firematic competition |
| First played | 19th century |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | New York, especially Long Island |
| Olympic | No |
Firematic racing, also called drill team racing or firematic competition, is a form of timed contest in which teams of volunteer firefighters complete tasks that imitate or grow out of fireground work, including hose lays, ladder raises and bucket brigades.[1][2] In New York the events are run as a summer circuit of tournaments, with a concentration of teams on Long Island. Motorized contests use purpose-built Class B and Class C racing trucks. Old-fashioned contests are run on foot with hand-drawn carts.[3][4]
The New York circuit is organized by the New York State Volunteer Firemen's Parade and Drill Team Captains Association. Similar hose and ladder contests and antique-apparatus musters are held in other states, but independent accounts describe New York's motorized drill-team racing as unusually specialized.[5][3] Supporters say the drills retain volunteers and rehearse speed and teamwork. Critics, including some fire-service trainers and taxpayers, have called the high-speed events a hobby funded by fire taxes and have pointed to injuries.[1]
History
[edit]Volunteer fire companies in 19th-century New York City competed to reach fires first. After the city established a paid department in 1865, that rivalry continued as contests between companies and later spread to suburban and upstate volunteer departments.[5] Photojournalist Michael Heller, who documented New York drills for Fire News and other fire-service magazines, traced the contests from foot races and fights between neighboring companies through hand-pumping duels to timed events on purpose-built tracks with custom apparatus. Heller's 2009 book Chariots of Firefighters was the first book-length history of the New York circuit. He wrote it in part after critical newspaper coverage of drill teams, saying he feared the practice could fade without a written record.[5]
By the mid-20th century Long Island departments fielded named racing teams and used older fire apparatus on tracks before replacing those trucks with purpose-built Class B pickups and Class C racers.[3] Heller told the Long Island Press in 2010 that more than 350 teams from more than 260 fire districts had taken part over the life of the association.[5] The Firefighters Association of the State of New York later put the number of drill teams in the state at 101, among 1,786 volunteer fire districts.[4] Most active teams are in Nassau and Suffolk counties.[2][3]
Organization
[edit]New York tournaments are overseen by the New York State Volunteer Firemen's Parade and Drill Team Captains Association, which supplies officials and contest rules.[1][3] Association officers have argued that public spending on drill teams is justified because the events help recruit and keep volunteers, including former chiefs who might otherwise leave their departments.[1]
A typical motorized season runs from early June through Labor Day weekend, with tournaments hosted by local departments on successive weekends. Eighteen motorized events were scheduled in 2026.[3] Points from individual contests are combined to decide a day's winner. County and state titles are awarded on accumulated results. The New York State championship is a one-day tournament. In 2024 it was held in Central Islip. In 2025 the West Sayville Flying Dutchmen won the state title, their 14th since 1975 according to the Town of Islip.[2][6]
Competition
[edit]Tournaments mix old-fashioned and motorized classes. Old-fashioned teams run on foot and haul hose or ladders on a two-wheeled cart. Motorized teams ride racing trucks and dismount to make hydrant connections, stretch hose or throw ladders.[3][4] A day's card commonly includes three-man ladder, Class B and Class C ladder, Class B and Class C hose, efficiency, motor pump and buckets. Scores from each race are added to rank the departments present.[2]
Vehicles
[edit]Class B racers are modified V8 pickup trucks fitted to pump water. They have large running boards and drop decks so crew members can ride outside the cab.[3] Class C racers are purpose-built open-wheeled machines closer to a dirt modified than to a street pumper, with racing slicks. In short sprints they have been reported at about 80 mph (130 km/h). The Class C ladder contest is run over about 475 feet (145 m).[3] Crews hang onto the rear of the truck, then throw a 25-foot (7.6 m) speed ladder at an arch. One member climbs and grabs the top rung to stop the clock. Fast Class C ladder runs have been completed in under 10 seconds.[2][3]
A Class A pumper in fire-service use is an ordinary front-line engine, not a drill-team racer.
Hose, ladder and bucket events
[edit]In motorized hose racing a truck sprints to a hydrant. One member drops off to make the connection while others guide the line. The truck then lays hose down the track. At the far end, remaining crew members cut the unused length, attach a nozzle and hit a target to stop the timer.[3] Ladder racing ends at an arch. After the stop, three members deploy the ladder and a climber scales it.[2][3] Bucket brigade, often the last event, requires filling and passing canvas buckets up a ladder into a drum on the arch.[2][4]
The Firefighters Association of the State of New York has described both old-fashioned and motorized contests as physically demanding, citing running, jumping from moving trucks, climbing wet ladders and handling charged hose, and has published injury-prevention advice for participants.[4]
Notable tournaments
[edit]The Joe Hunter Memorial Tournament, held at the Chief Brian D. Fahey Fire Training School in Hempstead, invites teams that placed well in the state championship. It is named for Joseph Hunter, a volunteer with the South Hempstead Fire Department and a firefighter with New York City Fire Department Squad 288 who was killed in the September 11 attacks. Childhood friend Matthew Spinelli and the Hunter family have organized the event since 2003. Proceeds support scholarships in Hunter's name and donations to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The 2024 tournament, the 21st, drew 16 teams. The Islip Wolves won with 23 points. The West Hempstead Westerners and Central Islip Hoboes tied for second. Other entries included the Westbury Turtles, Port Washington Road Runners, Lindenhurst Snails, Copiague Yellowbirds, Bay Shore Redskins, North Lindenhurst Piston Knockers, Miller Place Extinguishers, Hagerman Gamblers and the host South Hempstead Rascals.[2]
Controversy
[edit]In August 2011 four members of the Elmont Fire Department drill team were thrown from a racing truck that struck a guardrail during practice at a training site on Hungry Harbor Road in North Woodmere. One firefighter suffered a serious head injury. Nassau County police investigated. Three of the district's 33 vehicles were used only for drill-team racing. The trucks themselves, which can cost more than $10,000 each, had been bought with fire taxes. Fuel and maintenance were reported as 2 to 4 percent of a $255,000 vehicle-maintenance budget.[1][7]
NBC New York asked fire-service consultant Harry Carter, a former Newark training chief, to review video of the contests. Carter said the high-speed runs bore little resemblance to firefighting and that riding the back of a drag-style racer was more dangerous than riding a fire truck. He argued that if the activity was a hobby, departments should not fund it from taxes. Elmont residents interviewed by the station questioned the purchases. Fire commissioners said there was no separate drill-team budget. The district agreed to pay workers' compensation for an injured member. New York workers' compensation rules cover injuries at authorized drills and parades but exclude some competitive events that require physical exertion, leaving the status of drill-team injuries unclear.[1] Kenneth Conn, a vice president of the state captains' association, told NBC New York that departments did not spend tax money recklessly and that drill teams kept experienced members in the fire service.[1]
Heller said Newsday and other papers had given drill teams a "bad rap" and that public disfavor had for a time threatened the activity's survival.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Glorioso, Chris. "Long Island Fire Taxes Pay for Questionable Racing Games". NBC New York. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kelly, Bill (July 24, 2024). "Long Island fire department drill teams compete". LI Herald. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hundal, Thomas (April 20, 2026). "New York's Bravest Firefighters Race These Bizarre Trucks In One Of The Coolest Competitions On The Planet". The Autopian. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rockwin, Jamie. "The Race for Glory". FASNY. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Paying Homage to New York's 200-Year Firematic History". Long Island Press. March 12, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- ↑ "Islip Town Board Recognizes the Achievements of Local Fire Department Drill Team". Town of Islip. Retrieved September 4, 2026.
- ↑ "4 N.Y. Firefighters Injured in Racing Team Crash". Firehouse. Retrieved September 4, 2026.