Bluewater firefighters hose rivals

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

BLUEWATER ACRES — The Bluewater Acres Volunteer Fire Department has reached and met a goal that has been long-standing — winning the Tri-State Firefighters Competition.

“It was really great for us, a small, rural volunteer fire department to beat larger professional, paid departments, like Gallup, in this competition,” Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Garcia said.

“These larger paid departments practice the kind of stuff we did at the competition every day. We only practice every month or two,” he said.

“When our guys won in the first event, I told Jake (Campos), our fire chief, ‘these guys are ready for this (competition) today,’ ” Garcia said.

The fire department has been competing for nearly 20 years and has always previously won an event or two and brought home trophies, but never won the all-around top trophy, he said. The competition was held this past weekend in Colorado.

“We won the sweepstakes trophy, which is based on a points system,” Campos said.

Bluewater did not take first place in any of the events during the two-day competition. It placed anywhere from second to fifth, but by placing in each event, all those points added up to allow the department to bring home the top trophy.

Each of the contests involved firefighters competing in areas that they do on the job.

“In the six-man event, six firefighters roll out four hoses, connect them to a ‘Y,’ put nozzles on and knock down targets,” Campos said. Targets are about 50 feet from a “do not cross” line and all events are timed.

“After the event the judges examine all the nozzles to make sure they are tight. If there are any leaks, you are penalized with time,” Campos said.

The competition was held in Cortez, Colo., and 14 fire departments participated, Campos said.

Members of Bluewater Acres VFD that competed include: Campos, Garcia, Dominic Campos, Charles Nuenes, Michael Alarcon and Alex Crite.

“We are always looking for volunteers to help our department,” Campos said. Not only does the department respond to fires, it also has two rescue trucks and responds to medical emergencies and accidents.

Information: Campos, (505) 862-7178; Garcia, (505) 862-2262.