Fire truck pull is alarming success for Red Cross

Pax River Rugby team wins contest

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JESSE YEATMAN Brianna Post adds her strength Sunday to the Pax River Rugby team during a fire truck pull at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department. The Pax River Rugby team sponsored the pull, which raised money for Southern Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The volunteers ran to their rig and sped off, leaving behind a crowd of spectators and members of other teams participating in a benefit event for the Southern Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Organized by Pax River Rugby, teams from the Air Force, Marines, Wawa, United Rentals, Bay District Volunteer Fire Department (last year’s champs) and the rugby team itself tested their strength against a 46,000-pound fire engine. ‘‘I think it went well ... It was a bigger turnout than last year,” said Deputy Chief Jeff Evans. Evans and his team didn’t get to pull, though. Instead they ran to another engine after the alarm sounded to respond to a bedroom fire at Queen Anne Park apartments. The team got the fire under control in about five minutes, but spent the next few hours cleaning up. ‘‘Shortly after that the Red Cross went to help the family displaced by that fire,” said Jeff Croisetiere, a member of the rugby team and organizer of the benefit.

Back at the firehouse grounds, judges sat with stopwatches, counting the seconds the teams, made of about 10 people, took to move the fire truck 50 feet. Arguing with the judges was not allowed ‘‘or you will be blasted with a fire hose,” according to the rules.

The fastest times moved from the first to the second rounds and then to the final round, where the Marine Corps team faced off against one of the Pax River Rugby teams. The Bay District firefighters got a bye into the final round because of the fire call. Bay District volunteers did walk away with the award for best uniform. In the end, though, the rugby team took home the cup with a 10.6-second pull time. The Pax River Rugby team competes regionally and is open to anyone in the area.

The inaugural pull last year raised a good sum of money for the local Red Cross chapter, which responded with aid to 60 situations over the last seven months in St. Mary’s, Charles and Calvert counties, according to the chapter’s CEO Mike Zabko. This time, United Rentals brought in the most money, about $900 of the total $2,300 raised.