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Old 07-12-2006, 10:07 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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A couple of people recently have mentioned going into firefighting so when I came across this I thougt it a good post. http://www.strengthcats.com/articles.htm

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.
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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.
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  #2  
Old 07-12-2006, 10:08 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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Firefighting Part 2: The Strength Difference
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 conducted original research to determine the physical characteristics important to fire fighting performance. The expert instructional staff responsible for daily training selected the top five firefighter recruits from three separate classes. Elite recruit selection was based on observed individual performances on all fire fighting activities during the 16 weeks of training. The physical characteristics of these Elite recruits were compared to the remaining or Typical recruits to determine differences contributing to the Elite recruits higher levels of performance. (Table 2.1 below)


Elite Differences —

The Elite firefighter recruits were significantly taller, heavier, with more lean body mass. Additionally, the Elite recruits were significantly stronger on all strength tests. Fitness differences were small and non-significant. From a job task standpoint, the Size and/or Strength superiority of Elite recruits, resulted in significantly faster roof ladder placement times (13 seconds faster) and significantly faster five task (Combat Test®) times (50 seconds faster).

Relative Contributions —
The relative contribution of Strength, accounts for the majority of the difference between the Elite and Typical recruit groups. Strength is also the number one predictor of Elite recruits as revealed by stepwise multiply regression analysis. Size makes a significant, but smaller relative contribution to group differences. Relative contributions of Fitness are non-significant.

In Summary —
Performance differences between the recruit groups can be largely attributed to the superior Strength of the Elite firefighter recruits. Less then one-third of the difference can be attributed to Size. Both the Elite and Typical recruit groups have very good Fitness values, with no difference between the two groups. We strongly recommend that job related strength training be an integral part of any physical conditioning program for firefighters. In addition, as an adjunct to the strength training, health related fitness training should be included
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Old 07-12-2006, 10:10 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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Firefighting Part 3: The Relationship of Size, Strength & Fitness to Firefighting

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

Introduction —
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.

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%.


2. Physical Ability Test
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%.

3. The Combat Test®
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%.

Total Time Analysis for Tasks 1-3 —
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%.

Summary —
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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Old 07-12-2006, 10:16 AM
EricT EricT is offline
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I know some of this should be obvious....of course firefighters should be strong and fit. But I thought it of particular importance to underscore the fact that Strength and Fitness were of more relative importance than Size per se.

What I take from this is if you are a very big and strong person you probably have an advantage provided you a fit enough. But you should be training to be stonger and fitter and not focusing on being bigger.

Likewise if you are smaller you should still be focused on pure strength and fitness (with the size that comes along with that).

Last edited by EricT; 07-12-2006 at 10:22 AM.
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Old 07-12-2006, 11:01 AM
verbatimreturned verbatimreturned is offline
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Good Stuff Eric, just joined yesturday. Thanks
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