Meet Emile Conrad, South Africa’s ‘Toughest Firefighter Alive’ (World Firefighter Games)

Lester Kiewit speaks to Emile Conrad, a senior firefighter from the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) and the current holder of the title 'South African Toughest Firefighter Alive'.

Conrad holds the title of the 'Toughest Firefighter Alive' for participating in the World Firefighter Games in Denmark (from 7 to 14 September) competing in the 40 to 44 age category, securing a bronze medal, ranking 14th overall globally on the 'toughest firefighter alive (TFA)' list.

Before Conrad held this title, he was a full-time cabinet maker and entered firefighting at the academy in George in 2009.

Giving it his all since then, Conrad explains that the games are like the 'Olympics for firefighters', and he enjoys it because it helps him stay mentally and physically fit, crucial for a firefighter.

In these games, there are four levels with intense tasks that any firefighter could face in real life. If you make it through each level, you win the games.

"The main event is the Toughest Firefighter Alive competition which is a standard competition hosted nationally and internationally all over the world, which started about 30-odd years ago."

- Emile Conrad, Senior firefighter

"These competitions prepare us for any fires in our environment because the environment is unpredictable. We don't know whether we'll fight for someone else's life or fight for our own, so we need to be prepared and the best way is to be physically and mentally fit to be a firefighter... and this competition helps with that."

- Emile Conrad, Senior firefighter

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.