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Enbridge boosts dream of fire training tower by Bob Mitchell Oakville Beaver Staff 17 | Wednesday, November 6, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Think running a marathon is tough? Try competing in a firefighter combat challenge event. It's about enduring 90 seconds of pure physical hell. But for Shaun Henderson, 32, and the rest of the Oakville Firefighting team, striving to become the world's best combat challenge squad has been well worth all the seasons of excruciating pain. Fresh off their third-place finish -- their best-ever performance at the recent world championship in Las Vegas -- Henderson says the team is now going to have the chance to become No. 1 once a Combat Challenge training tower is built at the training centre. The $150,000 tower moved one step closer this week with a $15,000 donation from Enbridge "Having one of these towers for our training is crucial for us to move forward. All of the top teams in the world train on one," said Henderson, who finished third in the individual competition in Las Vegas with a time of one-minute, 26 seconds. He entered the final as the No. 1 qualifier having run the gruelling course with a time of 1:24 in the lead-up to the final. Without a proper Combat Challenge tower, the Oakville team, also reigning Canadian champions, has used its burn tower to train. But it has concrete stairs, it's dark inside and the railings aren't the standard height of Combat tower steel structures. The new tower will be an exact replica of the one used in all Combat events. The tower is expected to be ready for training next spring. If it is, Henderson is confident that he and his teammates will each have a terrific chance of breaking the existing world record time of 1:19.02 set in 2001. "Any one of us is capable of reaching that if we put our mind to it," said Henderson, who finished second at last year's individual competition. Normally, Henderson and his teammates; Darren Van Zandbergen, Dave Walker, Kurtis Enbridge donated $15,000 to help the fire department attain its $150,000 goal to build a new facility for combat challenge training. Pictured here, from left, Oakville firefighters Darren Van Zandbergen, Shaun Henderson, Enbridge's J.D. Booth, Deputy Fire Chief George Birtig, Chief Training Officer Richard Craibbe, and Oakville Professional Fire Association Secretary Chris Day. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog) Mantell, Matthew Longwell and Phil Cartwright would be gearing down for the winter before getting back into full training next spring. Yet, as a result of their placing in Las Vegas, they've been invited to participate in two-hour demonstration at the Cotton Bowel on Jan. 3 outside of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. "Normally we'd be going into hibernation now , but we want to show well in Dallas so we'll still be training for the next two months," Henderson said. Enbridge made its donation through its Safe Community Program. It has been funding organizations across Canada for more than four years so the groups can acquire new equipment, obtain professional training or deliver educational programs. Besides being used for Combat training, the new tower will also be used by other firefighters for recruiting, fitness training, ladder/pump operations, high-rise response and firefighter selfrescue and survival. "The expanded training grounds will ensure firefighters are skilled and confident in dealing with many different emergency situations," said Ken Hall, Enbridge's senior advisor of community relations. "The Oakville Fire Department is a team of highly-trained and caring professionals, who focus on the delivery of fire protection services such as fire suppression, prevention and safety education. The Safe Community Program is a way for Enbridge to recognize the important contributions first-responder organizations like the Oakville Fire Department makes in our communities." Henderson believes he and his teammates have become better firefighters because of their Combat Challenge training where the adrenalin running through their veins is equal to what they experience knocking down blazes. "It certainly makes you fitter and faster and that helps make your job better," Henderson said. "You're competing in full protective gear with a breathing apparatus. So if you find yourself in any situation in a real fire, you're comfortable wearing an air pack. "It's no fun to do unless you practice for it because it hurts so much. Some guys like to play hockey. Some guys like to work out in the gym. This is our thing. We train four to five days a week during the season, all on our own time." 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