PHOTOS: Brandon Mohler and the boys from Station 8 came to the Big Red Truck Pull with a fairly simple strategy.
“Just get the biggest guys we knew, start pulling hard and keep going until we heard the buzzer,” Mohler said.
Sounds easy, but really, nothing is easy when you're trying to pull a fully loaded, 20-ton fire truck 50 yards down Academy Street with nothing but a rope and brute strength. “Starting out, just to get the truck rolling is one of the biggest things,” Mohler explained. “Once it gets going, it takes your leg muscles, arm muscles, diaphragm and everything.”
Mohler and his group of firefighters from Aetna Hose, Hook and Ladder Company were one of nearly 20 teams that dug in their feet, gritted their teeth and summoned all their strength as they competed to see who could pull the truck the whole 50 yards in the quickest time.