MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- The firefighters connected hoses in a race against time. One turned up the water pressure as another gripped a nozzle and sprinted.
It was the hose leg of the 2012 Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Rodeo, a five-event timed competition at Lake O'Neil here Sept. 22 in which Marines from the air station here and from stations in Yuma, Ariz., and Miramar, Calif., demonstrated proficiency with firefighting gear.
Competition started with a 150-foot bunker-gear relay, a 100-foot fireman's carry and a 300-foot hose stretch to knock over a bucket.
"All the events we do are things we do in response to an emergency," said Staff Sgt. Alexander Temple, a section leader and crash-response chief for Marine Wing Support Squadron 372 at the air station here.
Next was a race to saw through a metal drum, followed by the Bucket Brigade, an 18-foot passing of water buckets from one tub to another.
Organizers withheld result times for each event and announced winners in a closing ceremony.
The Camp Pendleton team placed first in three events and narrowly landed in first place overall with a finish time of 10 minutes, 1 second and 25 milliseconds.
"We got our best times today out of all our practices," said Lance Cpl. Daniel Nerzig, an aircraft-rescue firefighter at the air station here. "We did better today than we ever have. It just felt like we were out there having fun. It is a really good feeling knowing that we did win this, even if it was by one and a half seconds."