More than 300 firefighters had been at the early morning meeting; even with Saturday afternoon’s rain, even more showed up for the tournament, said Eric James, second assistant fire chief for the Houghton Fire Department.

“I’m pretty happy with the attendance,” he said. “Everybody seems pretty happy here.”

The races were bumped up an hour early in an attempt to avoid the worst of the rain. The dress parade down Shelden Avenue and post-parade dance at Dee Stadium stayed at the same schedule.

Teams knew about two of the events. The other two were mystery races announced just before the event started.

Firefighters from the Chassell Fire Department pick up a dummy representing a colleague overcome by smoke during the event. Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

James said the department drew up races that could be fun, but also completed relatively quickly. They also had to tie in with firefighting tasks. In one of the mystery races, teams had to pick up a firefighter — “Fred,” an 80-pound dummy — who passed out at a nozzle. The team had to use a ladder as a stretcher to retrieve Fred. As one member stayed back with Fred, another headed for the hydrant, while two others ran to the hose and knocked down three targets.

James Marietta, engineer for the Lake Linden Fire Department, has been coming for the past seven years.

“It’s just a good time just to hang out with the departments that you respond with,” he said.

With the races already geared to firefighting skills, the teams don’t practice specifically for the tournament.

“We just take whatever they throw at us,” Marietta said. “We typically like the ones that are spraying water.”

This year’s tournament was the final one for Brian Mayworm. He’s retiring after 41 years as a firefighter — 10 with Dollar Bay, and the past 31 with Hurontown.

While some people describe volunteer firefighters as “basement savers,” they’re much more than that, Mayworm said. He and Chief Jared Ruotsala described it as a brotherhood, with each call potentially being the last time their families might see them.

As chief, Ruotsala was supposed to stay out of burning buildings. But during the fraternity house fire along College Avenue, his future son-in-law was one of the firefighters going in.

“So he went in to protect him,” Mayworm said. “That’s what we do.”

When Mayworm gets a call for a fire, his wife opens the garage door and turns the lights on. On his way out, she hands him his pager, radio and phone and says, “I love you. Good luck. Be safe.”

When responding to a mutual aid call for the fraternity house fire along College Avenue, Mayworm left his phone in his truck.

“I called her on my chief’s phone … she said, ‘Oh my God, you scared the hell out of me,'” he said. “He thought if my chief is calling, then there’s something wrong.”

Mayworm had planned to retire last year, but held on until Hurontown could add more members to what was then a nine-person department. It’s since grown a little, to 11.

“It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to find people that want to do that,” he said.

Mayworm said he’ll miss the camaraderie of the tournaments. He’s competed in most of the tournaments since becoming a firefighter. His wife has been extremely supportive, he said, also helping to make the department’s float.

“This is the one day of the year that’s all about us,” he said. “I love it. But if our tones go off — knock on wood — we’d have to go. So we never really have a day off.”