A new craze fueled by viral videos has swept firefighters across the country, and Vicksburg is no exception.

The “Cold Water Challenge” is a video challenge that has been circulating recently around social media. The challenge gives the receiver an option: pay $100 to charity, or be subjected to a form of frigid Chinese water torture by getting soaked in ice-cold water in various ways – and still pay $10 to charity. Once the firefighter is committed to the challenge they can call out other firefighters of their choice, and the chain goes on and on.

Several Vicksburg and volunteer firefighters gathered at Fire Station 8 about noon Friday to take part in the challenge, which they were doing to benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, firefighter Tammy Stewart said.

“The foundation raises money for families of firefighters who have been killed in the line of duty,” she said.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is a nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress with the goal of honoring firefighters and assisting families affected by the hazards of the job. It receives funding primarily through private donations from individuals and organizations.

The Vicksburg firefighters who participated in the challenge Friday ranged from paramedics to paid firefighters to those volunteers who lay their lives on the line free of charge, but they all shared the common goal of wanting to help a greater cause while also having a little fun.

The specifics of the challenge are fairly vague; it basically involves a firefighter and a body of cold water in any form. The Vicksburg firefighters set up a slip’n’slide of misery, consisting of a tarp and two fire hoses blasting full power on the slider, as well as a station to dump buckets of ice water on the heads of those unlucky enough to be called out by previous firefighters. Once they completed the challenge, they earned the right to call out others, and on it goes.

The challenge is a fun way to engage the firefighting community and show outsiders a different side of the heroes that charge into burning buildings when everyone else is running out. Underlying it all, however, is the common theme that permeates throughout everything they do even when they’re having fun, a commitment to the service of others.