For the first time in a decade Yukon firefighters are heading to Vancouver to compete in one of Canada's toughest fitness tests.

Nine Yukon firefighters will compete in the B.C. Southern Coast Regional Fire Fit competition on May 23.

Boyd Pyper is a fire chief and a volunteer firefighter in Tagish Yukon. He says the team has been preparing for months in Whitehorse.

'Climbing the CN Tower' to prepare

"Some people might have seen us running around the Millennium Trail in full gear," Pyper says. "One of our firefighters did the Run for Mom in full gear."

Pyper says firefighters have been training four to six times a week by running up stairs.

The team has climbed so many stairwells at Station Two in Whitehorse he says it's "the equivalent of running up and down the CN tower."

The 'toughest two minutes in sport'

The Fire Fit competition resembles an American fitness challenge called Fire Combat which airs on national television.

"They call it the toughest two minutes in sport, at least that's what they call it on ESPN," Pyper says.

Firefighters run an obstacle course while wearing their protective suit and oxygen tank.

"The timer goes off, you start, and you pick up a hose pack," Pyper explains. "You throw it on your shoulder and you run up 40 feet of stairs which is essentially six flights of stairs."

Firefighters then drop the hose into a container and hoist a 15-kilogram hose pack with a rope, before running back down the stairs to simulate breaking a door by knocking an 80-kilogram block with a sledgehammer until it slides backwards.

Some people might have seen us running around the Millennium Trail in full gear - Boyd Pyper, Fire Chief and a volunteer fire fighter in Tagish

They then drag a fire hose about 22 metres and hit a target with water.

Only then, comes what Pyper calls the "killer part."

The firefighters pick up a human-size dummy called Rescue Randy and drag it to safety.

All this, Pyper says, while breathing through a mask.