Firefighter Challenge League, United States Police & Fire Games Host First Collaborative Competition

Two of the largest fitness events in the fire service world will collide for the first time this June. The 2026 West/Southwest Regional Classic of the Firefighter Challenge League (FCL) will be hosted in collaboration with the United States Police & Fire Championships (USPFC) in San Diego from June 18-20.

It is the 59th annual USPFC event that is held in the city, but it is the first time the FCL, sponsored by SERVPRO, will take place in San Diego. It is also the first time the FCL regionals will be held in California in more than a decade.

The decision to combine the events came after the World Police & Fire Championships and FCL were back-to-back in Birmingham, AL, in July 2025.

The president of the California Police Athletic Federation, Jim King, and the chief engagement officer (CENO) of the First Responder Institute (FRI), Melissa Campbell, knew that bringing these two events together would be a huge hit and wanted to hit the ground running.

"We are both blessed with incredible teams of staff and volunteers that come out, and they want to see these things succeed," Campbell told Firehouse.com. "I can tell you, working with World Police and Fire Games in Birmingham was such a pleasure. When you have dedicated individuals who have pride in their job, things seem to go effortlessly."

“As soon as the World Police & Fire Games were finished last year, we immediately went to work and said, 'How can we collaborate further in the future?' We didn't think it would happen this soon,” recalled King.

The FCL is a program of the FRI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and has been deemed by ESPN as the “toughest two minutes in sports,” with its Task Force Tips (TFT) Firefighter Challenge Championship Series showcasing industry-related skills in a timed fashion. There are five firefighter-related skills that are completed in this challenge, and the event is divided into five regions.

The five sponsored events include a stair tower climb with a high-rise pack, a hose hoist, forcible entry, a hose advance and a victim rescue. The sponsors come from some of the biggest names in the fire service such as WHP Trainingtowers, Snap-Tite, Keiser, TFT and NASCO Healthcare. Other sponsors of the FCL include 3M Scott Fire & Safety and LION Safety. 

Events for the FCL are open to all firefighters and orhanized into different age categories, ranging from 72-year-old competitors to cadets as young as 14. 

"For anyone in the public safety sector, fitness isn't a luxury; it's a necessity," said Campbell. "These men and women need to be physically fit to survive every day on the job, to go home to their families every night and support their community in the best ways possible."

FCL World Champion Rob Torrence, who is a federal firefighter on Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, CA, is one of those competitors who was ecstatic when the announcement came out.

"I'm super fired up," exclaimed Torrence. "One of my neighbors growing up is a police officer, and he goes down to San Diego every single year, and he's always like, 'Why don't you ever come compete in these things?' It's a dream come true. I'm super excited."

The USPFC hosts 37 different competitions that include baseball, archery, billiards, pickleball, dodgeball and a slew of other games. One of the headline events from the USPFC is its Ultimate Firefighter competition, where firefighters compete in four stages of grueling fire service-related tasks.

With the two events coming together, over 300 athletes are expected to participate in this historic collaboration.

“We're hoping that they come and they participate in more than just the one event, even if they're the World Champion,” said King.

"The two organizations have a lot of pride and a lot of gratitude for the people they're serving, and you're going to see a phenomenal event," said Campbell. "One of the biggest benefits is going to be for the participants, the athletes. They're not just coming to a Firefighter Challenge. They have multitudes."

Some would think that trying to bring these competitions together would be a difficult endeavor or that egos would start to take over, but that is not the case.

It was more of a “why not combine these events” after the success seen in Birmingham. While there were some contractual and logistical hurdles to jump over, according to King, this integration couldn’t have been smoother.

“It really couldn't have been easier from our standpoint,” said King. “To bring it together, it was easy. It makes so much sense because we're all based on the same principles. We all want the same thing, and we attract the same sort of athlete.”

Other benefits of this collaboration that go under the radar are being able to get more exposure to the fire service and that it makes things easier on the athletes when it comes to traveling and getting off work, considering they don’t have to pick one or the other.

"If they did it on an annual basis, that would make my life 1,000 times easier, because we travel all around the U.S. to make it to these competitions," said Torrence. "We always go to that one every single year, no matter where it is. If they were to continue to do it in California, it would just make it way easier for me."

Not only are those two key benefits, but this could provide these two organizations with a blooming relationship that has a strong chance to be long-term. 

“I look for a bright future for both organizations. We support what the Firefighter Challenge does, what it means to the fire service and what the athletes do,” King said. “Our athletes, for all our events, not just from the United States perspective, but those 70 countries that represent the athletes at the World Police & Fire Games, they're all cut out of the same cloth. I am looking for big things in the future.”

It also gives participants a chance to connect with those from the other event and build relationships that wouldn’t have been possible. Torrence has a firsthand account of that being a pivotal part of his love for the competition.

"The networking and opportunities that it's created for me, the relationships I've built with people," said Torrence. "I know firefighters from all over the world. I know guys from Germany, Brazil, Canada, all these countries that compete, and we come together once a year and celebrate."

This is just the beginning for two organizations built on the same principles, wanting to promote mental and physical well-being for first responders.

"Everything I'm training for is something that I could run into in an actual emergency in real life," Torrence said.

“It's really an honor for us, and we're just excited to have been invited and to be part of it,” Campbell added.