HISTORY of the games

The World Firefighters Games is an international sporting event that welcomes all full-time, part-time, volunteer, retired, structural and bush firefighters, fire service support personnel, aviation fire services, military emergency response personnel, and their immediate direct family from all across the globe.
 

The games are held biennially in different countries and offer more than 50 different sports and challenges including archery, rugby sevens, windsurfing, poker, swimming, athletics, and softball, with the “Toughest Firefighter Alive” being the blue riband event.

The games began in 1988 with the first-ever World Firefighters Games held in Auckland, New Zealand from 22 to 29 April 1990. This initial outing drew 1800 athletes and 1400 supporters from 17 countries.
The purpose of the games was to introduce the four following concepts within the services:

1. To promote health and fitness
    
2. To provide a forum for information exchange between fire services
    
3. To foster comradeship amongst firefighters
    
4. To encourage family participation