The Making of a Female Firefighter Pt. II

Fire School

In my county, fire school is offered twice a year for the volunteers - one class in the Spring and one in the Fall. I just started the Fall class a couple of weeks ago. There are 24 of us in the class; 21 men and 3 women. The academic side seems pretty easy. A lot of it is self-explanatory and only requires some common sense (and a cursory reading of the text book). The physical side, however, is a whole other story. This is where being a female has its disadvantages. I am not saying women can't do it. We absolutely can, but we have to work at some things a bit harder than our male counterparts. Men naturally have more upper body strength than women, which means I have a LOT of working out to do to try to catch up.

We went through the physical agility test, which is the test career firefighters have to do to even be eligible to apply for a job. On paper, it sounded like a piece of cake, but actually going through it was much harder than I was expecting. The fact that I hadn't had time to eat breakfast that morning because I was coming straight from duty crew probably did not help. I passed (if anyone was wondering), but not with the time I was hoping for.

The Physical Agility Test

Time to pass: 12 minutes

The participant wears a 50 lbs. vest throughout the test, along with a helmet and utility gloves.

1. Walk up and down three flights of stairs three times (or the equivalent of a nine story building) with an additional 25 lbs. attached to the weight vest, which are removed when you get to the top of the stairs on the third time up.

2. Pull a section of coiled hose (I was told it weighed approx. 40 lbs.) up to the third story, hand-over-hand; let it down the same way (descend the stairs for the last time).

3. Drag an unrolled large diameter hose across the length of the bay (approx. 25 yds.); kneel down and pull the hose to yourself until you get to the first coupling.

4. Pick up a 16' ladder, carry it across the bay (approx. 25 yds.) and lay it down.

5. Swing a sledge hammer over your head and strike a plank covered in fire hose 20 times.

6. Crawl through the maze (it's dark - impossible to see anything in there)

7. Pick up a 22 lbs."pike pole," extending arms fully up and then down 20 times

8. Drag a 165 lbs. dummy from its straps approx. 15 yds., around a barrel and back again.

All of that must be completed in under 12 minutes.

Onto the next obstacle: the air consumption test. If I pass it, I'll tell you all about it.  ;-)