Ala. Fire Dept. Top Chefs Battle in Cook-Off

Oct. 13--Saturday was a day for plenty of awards for Montgomery Fire Department personnel as they competed in teams as well as against one another.

The National Firefighter Combat Challenge wrapped up team relay events in downtown Montgomery, where the second annual Top Chef Firefighter District Cook-off competition also took place.

The combat challenge saw teams from across the nation compete alongside more than a dozen MFD teams. The Montgomery Fire Blue team took first place overall in the open category. The Summerville fire team took first place in the over-40 category.

Assistant Fire Chief Kelly Gordon said the Fire Blue team time of 1:11:38 is about 4 seconds shy of the world record for the obstacle course in the combat challenge. The team now will travel to Las Vegas to compete in the world finals.

While Montgomery personnel celebrated as one after the combat challenge victory, personnel from the city's four fire districts -- represented by teams of blue, green, red and gray -- competed against each other in the cook-off competition.

Nita Wilson, an administrative assistant to the city's director of planning, helped organize the event and said it went well for the second year.

"This year was so exciting; it felt like a cityfest," Wilson said, adding that about 400 people came out to sample the food.

Cooking categories included steak, shrimp, chicken, ribs, potato and dessert. Mayor Todd Strange read off the names of the winners in each category, and then declared the Green Team from District 3 as the overall first-place winner.

The team's captain, Warren Biggs, said they took first place last year and were ready to defend the title.

"It felt good to repeat after everyone was coming for you," Biggs said.

Not only were they victorious overall, but the Green Team also took first place in the potato, ribs and dessert categories, winning for a second year with banana pudding.

Though he enjoyed the victory, Biggs said he enjoyed hanging out with his colleagues more.

"It's a real pleasure being out here with all the guys," Biggs said. "It's a good release for us to be able to sit and laugh."

Fire Chief Miford Jordan called the day a "great success."

"There were a lot of people in our city that seemed to embrace what was going on," Jordan said. "They really enjoyed the food and themselves."

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