Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 20, 2026 – Puerto Vallarta firefighters improved from fourth place last year to second in the men’s relay at the 2026 Jalisco Firefighters Cup, held Wednesday at the state Civil Protection headquarters in Guadalajara.
The Puerto Vallarta Civil Protection and Fire Department announced the second-place finish after its relay team completed a course built around speed, strength and coordinated emergency-response tasks. Guadalajara won the men’s relay with a time of one minute and 50.31 seconds.
Nearly 200 firefighters and rescue personnel took part in the second annual competition. The field included departments from 30 Jalisco municipalities and invited teams from Colima, Michoacán and Nayarit, according to the state event report.
The competition followed the Bombero Challenge format. Participants climbed five levels while wearing protective equipment and carrying a load, then completed simulated victim rescues and fire-suppression maneuvers. Separate individual and relay divisions were held with men’s and women’s categories.
Puerto Vallarta’s result marks a two-place improvement over the inaugural competition. The city finished fourth in the relay and seventh in the individual division in 2025, when more than 170 firefighters competed. Bryan Gilbardo García Anguiano recorded Puerto Vallarta’s top individual performance that year with a time of two minutes and 21 seconds.
The year-to-year improvement provides a clearer measure of the local team’s performance than the placement alone. Vallarta moved into the top two while the competition expanded by roughly 30 participants and added departments from three neighboring states.
PVDN has previously reported on the department’s four-day intensive training program, which used hands-on emergency scenarios to strengthen operational skills. The physical demands seen Wednesday reflected several of the same tasks firefighters encounter during rescues, equipment movement and structural fire responses.
The cup was organized by the Jalisco State Civil Protection and Firefighters Unit ahead of Mexico’s National Firefighter Day on August 22. The competition took place at the agency’s central command on Avenida 18 de Marzo in Guadalajara’s La Nogalera neighborhood.
