Toughest Firefighter Alive 2025: Registrations now open!
The 10th edition of the prestigious Toughest Firefighter Alive Southern Africa Open Championship 2025 will be hosted by the Garden Route District Municipality at the Garden Route Mall in George, Western Cape from Thursday, 9 to Saturday, 11 October 2025. The TFA-SA is based on the international ‘Toughest Firefighter Alive’ Challenge, the blue-ribbon event of the World Firefighter Games (WFG). Individuals, municipalities, volunteer organisations, private firefighting companies, industrial and military firefighters are encouraged to participate in TFA-SA. This event fosters collaboration and team building, enhances service delivery by promoting fitter, stronger firefighters, building camaraderie, fostering a sense of trust, mutual respect and friendship among first responders while strengthening community relations and restoring pride in the fire services.
TFA-SA stages Stage 1: Hose advance and make-up Stage 2: Obstacle course including Kaiser Force machine, dummy drag, container through tunnel and wall climb/jump Stage 3: Tower run including equipment carry and hose hoist Stage 4: Run in full gear
Registration Registration closes 20 September 2025 To partake in the competition the following is required: • Completed registration forms • Indemnity forms • Driver’s license or ID • Proof of payment of registration fee
Entry fees • Individual: R400 each • Team: R1 200 per team
Sponsorships Great sponsorship package are available: Main sponsors, prize sponsorships etc. Contact Lee Raath-Brownie on mobile 082 371 0190 or email: lee@fireandrescue.co.
Exhibit at TFA-SA 2025 The TFA 2025 will once again offer special exhibitor packages with stands sizes: 3x3m and 6x3m. Contact Lee Raath-Brownie on mobile 082 371 0190 or email: lee@fireandrescue.co to discuss your special offer!
Beyond the main competition, the Mini Toughest Firefighter Challenge will also be hosted alongside the Dräger South Africa Youth Challenge to ensure that youngsters are able to also feel the rush and excitement of the TFA competition.
To sponsor and exhibit, contact Lee Raath-Brownie at Fire and Rescue International, official media partner for Toughest Firefighter Alive South Africa.
Accident involving truck transporting gas cylinders triggers multiple explosions and fires, Magoebaskloof, Limpopo
A truck carrying gas cylinders of an unknown gas traveling from Polokwane to Tzaneen crashed, exploded and caught fire. The incident occurred around 01h00am on Wednesday, 16 July 2025. The driver reportedly managed to escape moments before multiple gas cylinders began exploding. He sustained minor injuries and was taken to Tzaneen Medi-Clinic for treatment. The explosion caused multiple veld fires in the Magoebaskloof area. All emergency services and organisations responded.
Thousands in Greece and Turkey evacuate as winds and heat fan wildfires, more than 10 firefighters/rescuers killed
Thousands of people in Greece and Turkey have been forced to evacuate homes as firefighters in the countries battled to contain wildfires fanned by strong winds and searing heat. At least 10 firefighters and rescue workers were killed and 14 others injured while battling a wildfire in Turkey’s northwestern Eskisehir province, authorities said, as several fires rage in central and western areas of the country where temperatures are soaring. Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumakli said on Wednesday that five forestry workers and five rescuers trying to tackle the blaze were killed when 24 firefighters became trapped in the wildfire earlier in the day.
City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department staff and top management donate to charity on Mandela Day
As we all know, Mandela Day is a celebration of President Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy which is observed annually on 18 July, his birthday. It is a day to promote community service, volunteerism and social responsibility. The day encourages people to take action and make a positive impact in their communities, just like Mandela did. On this day, people around the world engage in various activities, such as volunteering for community projects, supporting local charities, promoting education and health initiatives and fostering social cohesion and community development. The idea is to dedicate 67 minutes of your time to community service, symbolising the 67 years that Mandela spent fighting for social justice and human rights. Mandela Day is a powerful reminder of the importance of giving back, making a difference and working towards a better world.
Large fire and explosion at Stella Jones pole treatment plant, firefighter injured, Alabama, US
On Saturday night, a large ball of fire was a force to be reckoned with for Brierfield firefighters and others helping from area departments. “When a thing erupted, and then it was get everybody out of Dodge. At that point in time, we could not risk lives and equipment based on what was going on,” Chief Spruce Mcree said. Mcree is the department’s fire chief. He says the fire happened at a treatment plant for a utility pole making company called Stella Jones. Chief Mcree says there are thousands of gallons of hazardous materials like fuel on the property.
As South Africa enters the high-risk winter fire season, Sappi Southern Africa has announced that it reflects not only on the serious threats that fires pose to forests, communities and livelihoods but on the discipline and readiness it takes to confront them. July marks one year since the tragic loss of seven firefighters during a devastating blaze in KwaZulu-Natal, a painful reminder of the real stakes that lie behind every incident report, red flag warning and firebreak. Their legacy drives a renewed resolve across the industry to invest in people, protocols and partnerships that turn risk into readiness, says Sappi.
Firefighter cancer on the rise? California fire captain explains
Firefighting today is more dangerous and cancer is a growing threat. Dr Derek Irwin, LACoFD Fire Captain and UCLA professor, breaks down critical steps every firefighter can take to stay safer on the job. Learn how to protect yourself on and off duty: cpf.org/firefightercancer.
Source: California Professional Firefighters
SA Navy firefighting team receives heartfelt appreciation for wildfire response
While South Africans sat watching in disbelief as a devastating fire ripped through the Tokai, Silvermine and Kalk Bay areas earlier this year, brave men and women were on the frontlines, risking their lives and leaving their families behind to protect the city’s residents, infrastructure and natural heritage. In late April, the wildfire tore through approximately 3 000 hectares of land, prompting an all-hands-on-deck response from firefighting units across Cape Town. Among them was the SA Navy Fire Fighting Team, whose members were deployed to battle the flames threatening key areas, including the Upper Antenna Farm and naval establishments in the Silvermine region.
At least 27 killed in Bangladesh fighter jet crash
At least 27 people have been killed after a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka on Monday, 21 July 2025, officials said, with 170 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the F-7 BGI jet experienced a mechanical failure. Most of the victims were schoolchildren who had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College. The pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but, “despite his best efforts”, crashed into the two-storey school building, the military added.
Busy weekend for KwaZulu Private Ambulance paramedics as 24 collisions rock KZN roads
KwaZulu-Natal experienced a particularly challenging weekend on its roads, with KwaZulu Private Ambulance Service paramedics responding to 24 separate motor vehicle collisions across the province, treating more than 60 patients in total. The most significant incident occurred on Saturday along the R34 near Newcastle, where a passenger bus carrying 58 people lost control and veered off the roadway. Emergency responders rushed to the scene to find 11 passengers had sustained injuries ranging from minor to serious. All injured passengers were stabilised on-site before being transported to nearby hospitals for further medical care.
The loneliness of leadership
Statistically, there are fewer leaders today due to many reasons but what those who choose not to lead often fail to realize is this: Those who step up and lead are not perfect.
Those who choose the lead are not better than anyone else nor think more of themselves; in fact they often struggle with insecurity and doubt more than you know.
Those who lead are often maligned, slandered, and opposed by those who would rather criticize than do the hard work of resolving long standing issues that leaders tackle head on.
Featured FRI Magazine article: The silo mentality by Neville Van Rensburg
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: The silo mentality written by Neville Van Rensburg, provincial rescue and disaster coordinator, Western Cape Emergency Services, at the time of writing (FRI Vol 3 no 7). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Fire stations of the world: Fire Station No 4 – Columbus, Indiana, US
Columbus, Indiana, is a weird place: small, unassuming and packed to the gills with landmark Modernist architecture. Home to 45 000 people, Columbus doesn’t come close to cracking the list of the Hoosier State’s 10 largest cities. In a city that functions as a showcase of contemporary architecture and design, at least one fire station isn’t going to disappoint. And that would be Fire Station No 4, a Robert Venturi-designed structure completed in 1968. Named a Pritzker Laureate in 1991, Philadelphia-based Venturi is just as well known for his writings on architecture as he is for his actual buildings, most of which he designed with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown. As for Fire Station No 4, it’s a straightforward structure that doubles as a billboard of sorts. That is, it commands attention while communicating its function to all who pass. There’s no mistaking what you’re looking at. Trapezoidal in shape, the building is squat (save for the hose-drying tower in the middle) and realised in brick and cinder block. Writes Stephen Prokopoff, “As well as strengthening the civic presence of the building, the handling of the proportions of the fire station gives the little building big scale in its setting, a vast, flat field along a straight highway.”
Source: Stephen Prokopoff
Technology: New brine-based firefighting system developed to counter EV car fires
With incidents like the Morning Midas fire continuing to underscore the risks of EV-related car fires aboard ship, operators are urgently seeking more effective solutions. A new brine-based firefighting system, developed by Skansi Offshore in close cooperation with Knud E. Hansen, is claimed to offers a simple, robust and environmentally responsible answer. The system is operational aboard Faroese ship operator Smyril Line’s RoPax ferry Norrøna and is scheduled for installation on two new RO/RO vessels currently under construction.
Anterior shoulder stretch instructions: -Stand with shoulders perpendicular to a wall or solid object -Reach back and place your palm flat with your arm straight -Turn your entire body away from the arm until you feel the stretch -Push the arm into the wall to create contraction as you inhale -Relax as you exhale deeper into the stretch -Repeat this “Contract and Relax” pattern for 30 seconds -Find your end range and breathe deeply in and out as you relax into this position for another 30 Seconds Be response ready.
Source: Firefighter Peak Performance
Training: Rope rescue course (Part 3 of 5): Single person rope rescue
In this firefighter rope rescue training video, instructor Derick Caloway of Elevated Safety and Harken Safety and Rescue and Tim Anderson of Anderson Rescue Solutions demonstrate how to retrieve a single person load in a rope rescue.
Source: Fire Spotlight
Vintage: 1929 Seagrave 6DTW
A 1929 Seagrave 6DTW at the Salty Dog Museum. It has been fully restored, with a repaint. This piece also has an oil painting of Chief Broken Arm.
Source: The Salty Dog Museum
Inspiration: Quote of the week
Just for fun
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the articles and in any corresponding comments are the opinions of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Fire and Rescue International editorial team or its management.
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