LAURIUM — The 72nd annual Copper Country Volunteer Firefighter’s Tournament was held Saturday in Laurium with nine departments competing. Dollar Bay, Adams Township, Hubbell, Hurontown, Houghton, Quincy-Franklin, Allouez Township, Hancock and South Range were the competitors for this year’s. Calumet Township VFD hosted the event and did not compete.

Calumet Township FD Lieutenant Dylan Boberg said he knows a lot of the volunteer firefighters in the area personally and it was good to see them all in one place having a good time.

“Volunteer fire departments are a lot of times a backbone in these communities,” he said. “I mean, you look at some of these departments and how much they do outside of just the fire service.”

The Copper Country Volunteer Firefighters Association (CCVFA) ran its June meeting inside George Gipp Arena. Several awards were handed out to citizens and firefighters. Raffle prizes were also distributed.

The CCVFA awards winners are:

Citizen of the year — Ashley Burcar and Jenny Meunlemans

CCVFA achievement award — Dennis Raasio and David Kumlin

Department of the year — City of Hancock VFD

Firefighter of the year — Eric James of Houghton VFD

The firefighter races were held on Isle Royale Street outside of the Gipp. Residents and departments gathered outside near the recreation area to watch and cheer on their respective teams.

The hose roll was the first competition of the day. Four firefighters were tasked with putting on their uniforms and rolling fire hoses in a straight line. They put the four tightly rolled hoses stacked on top of each other in an area down the street, then they ran back to the starting area.

Dollar Bay started off strong with a time of 51.97, but Adams Township and Hubbell sliced milliseconds off Dollar Bay’s opening time, with times of 51.32 and 50.09 respectively to open the game. Allouez Township broke the 40 second mark with a time of 39.16. Second to last, Hancock finished its relay with a time of 37.72, winning the competition.

Team Captain for Hancock VFD Tom Goldstein said winning the first race was a good tone-setter for Hancock and their preparedness paid off.

“We been doing it for years. We have the same team. We got a solid group,” he said. “They’re committed and we just try to focus one race at a time.”

Goldstein said the Hancock VFD was also honored to win VFD of the year.

“We’re thrilled to be recognized by our community,” he said. “Just happy to keep doing what we’re doing and try to bring everybody out and get people involved.”

After the hose roll, the other races started. One of them was the five-hose-coupling relay, where firefighters had to connect five hoses to each other to spray water at a target.

A dress parade followed the races at 6 p.m., with a firefighter’s dance after. Awards for the day, including for the department who won the races, were announced but results were not available at press time.