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Chili Cookoff Shares Stage With Firefighter Challenge

FREMONT – While they wouldn’t think of hosing down a bowl of flaming-hot chili, Fremont firefighters will have their work cut out for them Sunday at the 17th annual Chili Cook-Off.

For the first time, Fremont’s top pepper peddlers will share center stage with the city’s bravest, who are looking to repeat as champions in the Fremont Firefighter Combat Challenge.

The firefighter competition, which involves departments from throughout the western United States, traditionally has been part of the Fremont Festival of the Arts. But this year, to give the chili cook-off a little extra strength, it will be held outside the Saddle Rack country-and-western nightclub.

Cook-off organizers changed the day of the event in part to help lure the firefighter competition, whose schedule conflicted with this year’s art festival.

“We truly believe that it will add to the spirit of the Fremont Chili Cook-Off,” said Jaclyn Riedel, a spokeswoman for the firefighter event.

The fire competition was free for spectators at the art festival, but it will cost $5 a person at the cook-off, which raises money for several nonprofits.

Competitive firefighting hasn’t quite made it to prime time, but it is a rough-and-tumble sport nonetheless.

Firefighters do battle on an obstacle course in which contestants, wearing 50 pounds of equipment, race up a five-story tower, pull a 42-pound hose to the top of the tower, run back down the stairs, weave in and out of obstacles carrying a 140-pound hose and finally drag a 175-pound dummy across the finish line.

Fremont has one of the top firefighter combat teams in the country. Last year, the Fremont team bested the three-time champions from Travis Air Force Base to win the Fremont competition for the first time.

While firefighters do battle, participants will get to sample dozens of pots simmering with beef, tomato sauce and chili peppers, as well as beans, and a variety of secret ingredients. About half of this year’s 32 chili chefs are professionals, while the other half are amateurs from local nonprofits. For the first time, a vegetarian chili will be entered into the contest, cook-off spokeswoman Valerie Smart said.

A $5 admission fee is good for chili tasting cups, spoons and a napkin, as well as a seat to watch the firefighters and a production by the Starstruck Theatre company.

The cook-off, sponsored by the three local Rotary Clubs, will benefit Tri-City Rotary Clinic, HOPE Project Mobile Clinic, Washington on Wheels and the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation.

Festivities run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. outside The Saddle Rack, 42011 Boscell Road.

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