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Military
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Firefighting
Part 3: The Relationship of Size, Strength & Fitness to Firefighting
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By Mike Berry, President/Owner
of Power-Up USA, Inc. (MFD-Ret),
T. Matic, CSCS (MFD-Bn. Chief-Ret.)
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Introduction
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| Twenty-two Firefighters were timed on the Roof Ladder Evolution,
the entry level Milwaukee Physical Ability Test and,
the nationally known Combat Test®. Those performances, plus the total combined time to
complete those tasks, are used in the analysis presented below.
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| 1. Roof Ladder |
| Average time for this single task was 50.59 seconds (:50.59). The
combined Size, Strength and Fitness Scores had a significant and high correlation of .7840. The relative contribution of Size (13.3%)
was non-significant. Strength (56.2%) and Fitness (30.5%) made significant relative contributions for a total of 86.7%. |
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| 2. Physical Ability Test |
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Average time for this series of five tasks (hose drag, chopping, pike pole work, ladder lift and victim rescue) was 2 minutes and
37.82 seconds (2:37.82). The combined Size, Strength and Fitness Scores had a significant and high correlation of .8172. The relative
contribution of Size (14.4%) was non-significant. Strength (45.9%) and Fitness (39.7%) made significant relative contributions for a
total of 85.6%. |
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3. The Combat Test®
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| The average time for this series of five tasks ( stair climb with
hose pack, hoist evolution, forcible entry, hose advance and victim rescue) was 4 minutes and 18.23 seconds (4:18.23). The combined
Size, Strength and Fitness Scores had a significant and high correlation of .8775. The relative contribution of Size (28.6%) was
non-significant. Strength (40.8%) and Fitness (30.6%) made significant relative contributions for a total of 71.4%. |
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Total Time
Analysis for Tasks 1-3 —
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| The combined average total time for the Roof Ladder Evolution,
Physical Ability Test and the Combat Test® was 7 minutes and 46.64 seconds (7:46.64). The combined Size, Strength
and Fitness Scores had a significant and high correlation of .8841. The relative contribution of Size (23.9%) was non-significant.
Strength (43.3%) and Fitness (32.7%) made significant relative contributions for a total of 76.0%. |
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Summary
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The statistically significant and high correlations indicate that in this group of Firefighter Recruits, those who possessed higher
levels of Strength and Fitness, performed fire fighting tasks faster than those with less Strength and Fitness. These findings agree
with previous published and unpublished research, that also showed the important relationship between Strength & Fitness and
effective fire fighting performance. |
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