An empty and battered half-barrel of beer, suspended by a wire between two poles on West Eighth Avenue, was buffeted back and forth by streams of water gushing out of hoses wielded by two teams of four firefighters each. In a kind of reverse tug-of-war, the idea is to force the barrel over to the opponent’s side. The contest is a firefighting tradition that dates to the 19th century, when fire departments used wooden beer barrels and the winning team earned a round of beer. Today, the victor wins a commemorative plaque.
For Monday’s contest, the street was partially closed with yellow tape and traffic cones, and families pulled up to the curb in an adjoining gravel lot to watch the competition.
Munhall firefighter Dan Boehme had one piece of advice for firefighters hoping to win the Battle of the Barrel: “Hit it high.”
As the driving streams of water arced over each other in the evening light, a rainbow formed.
“Stay on it! Stay on it!” shouted spectators. The barrel lurched forward, then swung back across the median. “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s wet shoes,” shouted one firefighter, soaked from head to foot.
The barrel had seen better days; the sides were dented and the label was worn from years of use in previous battles. But Jim Ferson, who has served 23 years as a firefighter in West Homestead, said he had a hunch that the barrel once held Coors Light, local firefighters’ beer of choice.
Monday’s game began the 102nd Allegheny County Volunteer Firefighter’s Association annual convention, a weeklong event that includes a free concert on Friday, a 5-kilometer run on Saturday, a firetruck parade on Sunday, and a community celebration with fireworks that evening in Calhoun Community Park. A different town in Allegheny County hosts the convention each year.
The barrel battles may have been for fun, but the fire hoses are by no means toys. The water in the hoses is under 100 pounds per square inch of pressure, about 20 times that of the average garden hose, said Mr. Ferson. Still, Mr. Ferson said, the game is just that — a game.
“This has no correlation to fighting fire,” he said, pointing to the dangling barrel. “To get good at this, you have to practice this.”
But other firefighters disagreed, and said the ability to handle a hose and nozzle are useful regardless of context, especially for younger firefighters learning the trade.
Up first in Monday’s contest were teams from Versailles and Whitaker, and although the Whitaker team eventually lost, the captain of the Whitaker Fire Department, Andrew Mizak, said it was an evening well spent. Two of his department’s younger volunteers, Cody Schreiner, 17, and Becca Schreiner, 16, gained experience managing a fire hose.
The convention was also a measure of how the department has changed in the past 20 years, according to Chief John Dindak. With fewer volunteer firefighters available and more emergency calls coming in, the West Homestead department has had to do more with less. Many of his volunteer firefighters see their work as a full-time job, Chief Dindak added.
West Homestead’s first assistant fire chief Dave Harhai said the hose battle did not impede his fire department’s ability to respond in an emergency. The West Homestead department had fire engines at the ready, and the firefighters would stop the competition if need be.
“If we got a call right now, we’d be able to roll. Fire protection is still there,” Mr. Harhai said.
Finnegan Schick: fschick@post-gazette.com
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