NEW MARKET, Tenn. — Junior Fire cadets in New Market were getting in one last training session Thursday evening before heading off to the Warren County Junior Firefighter Competition in North Carolina this weekend.
Market Junior Cadets are the reigning champions of the nationwide competition. It will be the first competition since 2019 after it was put on pause because of the pandemic.
In the competition, teams of students between 13 years old and 18 years old compete against groups from across the country to see who can complete drills the fastest.
It's the New Market Junior Firefighter team's third time headed to competition. It's something they said they'd been looking forward to for more than 2 years now. For them, it's a way to prepare for their future careers.
"For me, it means a lot because I look up to the fire service. I like it and it's something I want to be a part of when I get older," said Isaac Cook, a junior firefighter.
"All my whole life. My dad's a firefighter up here. I've been hanging around since I was a baby," said Braden Brooks, a junior firefighter.
The team will compete in a water relay, rope tying and a race to see who can put on firefighting gear and set up a ladder the fastest.
"It helps up make good choices, think in the moment," Brooks said.
The junior firefighters said it requires physical endurance to do the job and pushing through it together forms a deep-rooted brotherhood.
"You can trust them basically with your life," said Luke Cornett, a junior firefighter.
Maurice Solomon, an assistant fire chief, coaches the junior fire department. He said he hopes to blow competitors out of the water as they did in the 2019 competition.
"He ain’t never seen a junior fire department come up there and took everything like they did. He said they work really hard," Solomon said. "Well, they're coming for us. The other teams, it's on Facebook that the fending champs are coming back and they're going to be after us. They really are and we've been training.”
It's not all about winning for this team though.
"I'm just going to be honest with you — young folks, these young men, need something to do besides computers and phones," Solomon said. "I just want to help them to make them be something, you know because there's just so much to offer around here now."
Solomon works as a mentor to these students. He checks their grades and teaches them how to be good people in their everyday lives too.
They head off to Warren County North Carolina pm Friday. They compete on Saturday. The New Market Volunteer Fire Department said it's always looking for dedicated young people interested in making a difference in the community.