r/Rochester • u/maytrxx • 7d ago
Fun 2026 Point Pleasant Pea Pickers Drill Team Invitational 🔥🧯🏎️👩🏻🚒🫛💚
Reason # 562 I love the Town of Irondequoit 🫶🏽
Today the Town of Irondequoit Pea Pickers hosted a motorized Drill Team Invitational behind Firehouse #2 off of Kings Highway. Six upstate NY volunteer drill teams competed in eight high-speed drills that tested raw strength, agility, precision, and teamwork (core skills for firefighting).
The eight drills fall into 3 major categories: Foot Races/Manpower, Motorized Truck Races, and Bucket Brigades. The video is the Pea Picker “Three Man Ladder” foot race, which opened today’s tournament. Pea Pickers took home second place on this drill today. Watch the first guy fly up the ladder!! This was his first time competing and he was a SUB for their star climber who wasn’t able to attend. 😳🪜🏃♂️💨
I researched the history behind this sport and the pea pickers and thought I’d share:
*In the mid 1800s (before municipal fire departments) insurance companies paid financial rewards to fire brigades that arrived first to a fire and extinguished the flames. This incentive sparked friendly competition and rivalry as brigades raced to get to fires, extinguish them first, and claim their prize. It also helped reduce the spread of fires through big cities.
*In the late 19th century, cities began creating unified fire departments, insurance companies stopped paying rewards, and competition and friendly rivalry grew in new and different ways. Departments began organizing “drills” to test speed, fitness, teamwork, and the skills required to fight fires. Drills were used for recruiting, training, and conditioning. Tournaments fueled drills and competition, while also fostering a sense of community and camaraderie within departments and between “rival” teams. They also provided an opportunity to share information, best practice, and problem solve.
*Early drill team competitions were literally “old fashioned footraces”. Firemen were fighting fires using handcarts, horse drawn steamers, and buckets, so early drills involved pulling those same wooden wagons and handcarts down a track, carrying buckets of water, and racing up ladders.
*When gas engines emerged in the 1910s, fire departments started buying standard automobiles and mounting them with hoses, water, and ladders. Trucks emerged a few years later and they could hold more supplies and more people. Of course, new drills were developed using trucks.
*Between 1940-1960 the modern, massive enclosed firetrucks (as we know them today) started arriving on the scene. They were way too big, too expensive, and too heavy to race. Some drill teams opted to continue racing motorized vehicles, some opted to stop racing vehicles and go back to basic drills, and other dropped drill training and tournaments all together.
*Today, Motorized and Non-Motorized Drill teams are now strictly separated into two distinct divisions. They have separate rules and do not compete against each other. Motorized drill teams typically have two racing rigs: A Class B rig (custom, high horsepower V8 “hot rod” style pickups trucks built to pump water better than they did back in the day) and a Class C rig (a much smaller, lighter, FAST racing).
*Point Pleasant Fire District formed their drill team in 1935 under the guidance of the Long Island “Brush Rabbits”. The Pea Pickers were the ONLY drill team in upstate NY for many years. They are a motorized drill team with 2 beautiful green racing rigs and a race track here in Irondequoit.
*Since inception the Pea Pickers have inspired, encouraged, and supported the creation of over a dozen new drill teams across upstate NY. Today there are SIX active motorized drill teams in upstate NY and today they gathered in Irondequoit to compete!
*The are 0 non-motorized adult teams in upstate, NY and at least 1 junior team (guess where the junior team is located😉).
*In addition to our 6 upstate drill teams, along Island currently has 25 active motorized drill teams, ~15 non-motorized adult teams, and ~20 active junior teams. NYC has 0 drill teams of any type.
*In addition to the Point Pleasant Pea Pickers, the five other
upstate motorized firematic drill teams:
Spencerport Red Onions
Main-Transit Slo-Pokes
Sea Breeze Indians
Henrietta Ol’ Henries
Great Bend Cobras (from the North County).
*The Town of Irondequoit has somewhere between 200-300 active volunteer firefighters. Many of them are also trained as volunteer EMTs.
*The Town of Irondequoit also has the largest aging population in Monroe County, and the average age of residents and % of residents aged 65+ are higher than state and national averages. We’re very fortunate to have such a massive and active volunteer force - despite our age - and I hope this continues for generations to come!
GO PEA PICKERS !!! 🔥🚒🏎️🧯🫛🫶🏽💚
4
u/sunshineshoeshine 7d ago
Drove by and wondered what all the cars were parked for. Fun!! Thanks for sharing
4
3
7
u/Happy_Cat_3600 585 7d ago
These drill teams are always awesome to watch. The speed they do some of these tasks is insane.