Not even heavy rain could dampen the spirits of the crowd of participants hoping to break the Guinness record for the World’s longest bucket brigade June 20 in Millheim, Centre County. The event was held as a fund-raiser for the Millheim Fire Company in commemoration of its 100th anniversary.

“I was trying to think of things that would show what fire companies did 100 years ago and one of those things was to use bucket brigades to fight fires,” said Betsy Forsythe, event organizer. Before the advent of pressurized hoses, firefighters lined up between a water source and the fire and passed buckets from person to person to combat a blaze.

Forsythe hoped to attract the nearly 7,000 people needed to pass 150 buckets, each holding 2 gallons of water, more than 2.6 miles. That’s the distance achieved by 6,569 Boy Scouts when they passed 140 gallons of water, setting a world record.

Although registration began months ago, they were unable to recruit the numbers needed.

But there was a sense of excitement when the fire whistle blew at 1 p.m. and a crowd of nearly 400 dedicated men, women and children assembled behind the firehouse. They were quickly formed into long parallel lines that snaked their way through an open field. One by one, the buckets began their journey through the long maze, being passed with care to avoid spillage. Meanwhile the sky darkened, thunder rumbled and the rain fell. The final bucket to be passed was an antique leather bucket for donations.

Before the lines broke up, Guinness World Records Adjudicator Carlos Martinez oversaw the measurement of the total distance, which according to Forsythe was close to a half mile.

Although far short from a world record, Forsythe believes the event was a success. “The whole goal was to draw attention — not just to Millheim but to all volunteer fire companies and remind people of the need for fund-raisers. These guys work full time elsewhere, but they’ll get out of their warm bed in the middle of the night to go fight a fire and help people in any way they need help.”

Participants included fire fighters from New York State as well as some visitors from Yugoslavia, who after hearing about the event delayed their arrival by a week so they could participate.

n Interested in setting a World Record? Visit www.guinnessworldrecords.com for details.