Firefighting Part 1: The Importance of Strength

By Mike Berry, President/Owner of Power-Up USA, Inc. (MFD-Ret), T. Matic, CSCS (MFD-Bn. Chief-Ret.)

Introduction —

At the Fire Department's Bureau of Instruction and Training, we have looked at the relationships between the data obtained from over five hundred firefighter recruit physical evaluations, to fire fighting tasks that were timed during training. From this analysis, we gained valuable insight into the correlation's between a firefighter's fundamental physical characteristics (Size, Strength, Fitness) and their fire fighting capabilities.

The First Analysis —

Roof ladder placement is a single task evolution that fulfills the required criteria of being a critical, arduous and frequently performed fire fighting activity. A total of 336 roof ladder times were included in this analysis. The average duration of this evolution is about one minute. In this first analysis, Strength is the primary contributor to roof ladder placement times. Additionally, stepwise multiple regression (an advanced mathematical method) revealed Strength as the number one performance predictor for this very important job task. Fitness made a significant contribution, but only when combined with Strength measures and not when analyzed in isolation. Size made a small and non-significant contribution to roof ladder performance.

The Second Analysis —

A very arduous sequentially performed five task test (Combat Test ®) of general fire fighting abilities is the next job task examined. A total of 39 best times obtained from two separate trials are used in this analysis. The average duration of this evolution is about four minutes. In this second analysis, the contributions of Size, Strength and Fitness were approximately equal. But again, multiple regression methods revealed Strength as the number one performance predictor. As with the first analysis, Fitness made a unique and significant contribution, but only when combined with Strength and Size measures. Somewhat surprisingly, Size makes a significant contribution to this five task evolution.

In Summary —

Strength predicts and makes a powerful contribution to fire fighting capabilities. Fitness measures alone, are not predictive of fire fighting capabilities, but must be joined with Strength, or Strength and Size in order to see a contribution to performance. Both of the job tasks analyzed, illustrate very well, the synergetic effects of combined physical characteristics and their relation to fire fighting activities.