Physical Agility Failure

[ATFDFF]

Hey Guys. Just a quick question. A friend of mine just was failed out of a FF academy because he could not complete the PT required of him. He had no trouble during practical drills, could do anything that was asked, just couldn't do the long runs, pull ups and push ups.

The academy I went to, as long as you put forth your best effort in PT and could do everything required in the evolutions, you were fine. Obviously, if you couldn't do what was required during drills, etc. it was more than clearly grounds for expulsion. So I guess what I'm getting at is, was my academy the norm or the exception? What are your rules?

[powerhourcoug]

Is this a career academy? Where is it located at?

What are the standards for the run, pullups, and pushups?

[JTFIRE80]

PT wise, my academy was "as long as you have shown significant improvement", which we all did. The only timed event was the actual agility test to get on the department.

[emt-pack_mule]

All fire academies, career based or volunteer based, are all different. Generally the better academies have higher standards for the probies, such as maintaining certain grades and certain physical benchmarks.

Also keep in mind, while PT may be used to keep everyone physically strong, PT is also a very good measure on how one will push themselves mentally, maintain discipline, work through pain, and things like that.

[FFighterRob]

My academy was hard back in ’88, and over the years they got physically easier and easier as the academic side got tougher. The old guys used to say we stopped hiring and training firefighters and started breeding scientists.

Well, a couple of years ago two of our guys died in a fire. They were two that were in good shape and smart. As in any line of death incident there was not just one thing that caused it, but a collection of mistakes and problems that came together at the right time with terrible consequences.

Along with increasing our training, one of the changes we made was to get our academy back to the place where people coming out of the academy were able to do their job well, mentally and physically. One of our most experienced chiefs left operations and led the academy and the first day he told the class, “I am 54 years old. I will run with you and do P.T. with you. If I pass you running, or can do one more push-up or sit-up than any of you, you may get in your car and don’t come back.” Even with that one of the guys went down at his first fire and quit, he still was in good enough shape.

While it may seem harsh to do that, we are not playing around here. I don’t want someone’s loved ones told that their firefighter died because a person that came out of the academy wasn’t strong enough, but was improving. This is a physical job. People die. An academy and the department owe it to everyone hired and everyone in the companies to ensure people can do the job. Face it, for the most part, that is the best shape a lot of people will ever be in.