Karns Quality Blog

For a number of years now, our good friend Randy has volunteered for the Capital City Adventure Challengeas the coordinator of the event’s surprise technical challenges.  The Adventure Challenge is a one-day multi-sport race around the ridges and the river that make Harrisburg topographically unique.  Every year involves sections of mountain biking, trail running, and canoeing.  Additionally, surprise elements are thrown throughout the course for good measure.  This year, Randy and friends secured access to the five-story tower at HACC’s public safety training center.  The plan was to require the participants to rappel from the blasted shell of a building.

Unlike many of the challenges conceived in year’s past, the rappel would require a more technical competency of the volunteers.  Amanda and I, along with a number of our friends, were recruited by Randy to fill this critical role.  While I had seen the tower from a distance many times before (I pass it whenever I visit Wildwood — Harrisburg’s urban wildlife sanctuary), I have never been close to it or the surrounding complex.

The entire place has a creepy, Eastern European war zone feel to it.  The tower is essentially a five story building with open walls used for high rise rescue training.  Nearby is a brick house that has been scarring with black soot from endless fires.  Scattered around the perimeter are beaten and broken cars, presumably awaiting a fiery fate when a pyromaniac firefighter sets it ablaze for the purpose of putting out the fire.

The weather was cool and overcast with occassional wind.  Rain threatened throughout the day with an occassional sprinkle.  All in all, it was almost perfect for a race such as this one.  We saw the first of the racers long before they reached us.  From our perch high above the landscape, they were distant specks, zooming past on their way to an orienteering course prior to reaching our element.  And so we waited, enjoying the exposure of the tower.

And suddenly, they were there.  The three leading teams arrived at the tower seemingly in unison.  Soon after more teams were arriving.  The pace was good.  We never became too backed up, but there were flurries of activity around the tower, making each volunteer’s role seem vital.

The racers approached me with a manic look of determination in their eye.  There were still many miles to go on their journey, and the many miles behind them at this point had placed the teams firmly in the zone.  Muddy and sweat stained, the teams approached me, standing at the brink of the fifty foot edge.  “Hi, I’m Josh.  Have you ever rappeled before?” I asked.  For most, it had been a long time, if at all.

I took the initiative, clipping them into the rappel setup and sharing clear, concise directions.  This element wasn’t a race; we wanted everyone to reach the ground safely.  Then we reached the point of no return.  “I want you to sit back over the edge like you’re sitting into a chair.”  Many obeyed instinctively even if they were unfamiliar with the scenario; they were clearly in the moment of the race.  Others hesitated, unable or unwilling to commit to the void.  They took a little extra coaching, but in the end everyone did it.

As if the stream of racers wasn’t enough distraction for a single day, a fire company had begun performing drills in the lot adjacent to the tower.  They began by opening what I presume was some kind of gas line and lighting it aflame.  This created a glowing ball of fire emanating from a a pipe in the ground.  then the firefighters got in formation and moved onto the ball of flames, hose in hand.  Once extinguished, the process was repeated indefinitely.

After some time, the firefighter must have grown tired of putting out an amorphous fireball.  For a little more action, they decided to attack the house, which had conveniently been smoldering for an hour or so.  The firefighters too a quick break at a nearby pavilion to let the poor house really get hot before heading into the action.

From what I gathered the stinking smoldering fire was achieved by packing the building full of wooden skids and adding a good dose of petroleum products.  All in a day’s fun!  I suppose it makes sense for a fire company to train, but I never really envisioned it like that!