Thousands raised for Special Olympic athletes in annual Fire Truck Pull

Pulling 55,000 pounds is no easy task.

But on Saturday dozens of teams got together for the annual El Paso Fire Truck Pull, a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

“Today it weighs like four times as much as it normally does it seems like,” firefighter James Younger said. “We’re having fun. Everybody’s cheering each other’s teams on. It’s a lot of camaraderie going on right here. There’s a big brotherhood, a big sisterhood it’s just all family out here today.”

The teams were composed of 10 people. The teams competed to see who could pull the truck 75 feet the fastest.

“It was fun pulling the fire truck with my friends but it’s heavy. Very heavy,” Special Olympics athlete Juan Ayala said.

The event is organized with the help of the Law Enforcement Torch Run. In 2016, the Texas-branch of the Law Enforcement Torch run raised over $1.4 million in 2016 for Special Olympic Athletes.