Physical Test for Firefighters Is Intense
Posted on Friday, November 28th, 2014
Emergency Medical Service/Fire Brigade
Applicants for Fire Brigade positions are strenuously tested for strength, endurance, and physical ability. To pass, the applicant must finish in a total time of less than 16 minutes.
Run 1/2 mile (in 6 minutes or less)
Recover to a satisfactory heart rate while donning full fire gear (in 4 minutes or less). Then, within the next 6 minutes:
Climb a 20-foot extension ladder twice.
Drag a charged 1-1/2” hose for 100 feet, and drag a 185-pound dummy for 50 feet.
Carry a hose pack weighing 35 pounds 100 feet through a serpentine course, and carry two gas-powered rescue saws 100 feet.
Lift a 14-foot roof ladder from a pumper truck to the ground and back, and with a pole, lift a tethered 35-pound hose pack off the ground to full extension 20 times.
Drive a weighted sled along a measured track using repeated overhead blows with a sledgehammer.
Cody Douglas, Firefighter/Paramedic
Soon after joining the department as a firefighter/EMT in 2012, Douglas elevated his skills by completing the Love County EMS Paramedic program. “I love being able to provide the higher-level of care needed for some patients.”
He continues to stay sharp as a firefighter with alternate days on an engine truck, and when not on duty here, in the volunteer department of his hometown of Trenton, TX, where he got his first taste of firefighting in 2010.
Michael Allison, Firefighter/Paramedic
Allison is imbued with the firefighter ethic. His ancestors have been hauling hose and swinging axes for five generations (two brothers also are firefighters). “There are morals and integrity and pride and honor in being ‘trained to serve’ that my family has valued, and I want torepeat that.”
He joined the Fire Brigade in March with simultaneous experience at one of the larger departments in the area at Denison, TX. He likes the cross training that is here, where firefighters also are able to deliver emergency medical care in the field.
Allison’s fire career dates to 2004, and he became a certified Paramedic in 2009.