Let's Get You Up to Speed (part 8).....

In April of 2006, I felt the burning of wanting to become a firefighter. I had already had my interview. I now waited to move on to the next phase....I found out what that was the very next month....the Agility Test.

For those of you who may not know, the agility test is kind of like an obstacle course...for firefighters. There are different stages set up, and you have to complete them in a certain order, under a certain time. Tests vary from city to city, district to district, but all complete the same motions in some way.

Because this was my first one, I was a little nervous. We had received instructions on what to wear, a layout of the obstacles we would be completing, and instructions to the test site, but that didn't ease my nerves. I got up early that morning, and headed to the site way too early. I remember as I pulled up to the test site I told my self that this was it, and there was no turning back. And boy was that true. Things haven't been the same since and I've never given up. Back to the test...

Around the start of the test, the instructors started gathering us all up. They explained each obstacle and what order we needed to do them in. They even had a volunteer firefighter run the course so we could observe.

We then lined up, in one of the bays. For this test, we had to wear a helmet, gloves, turnout coat, and air tank. While we were waiting, they took our beginning blood pressure. Mine (and I wasn't alone) was high due to being nervous. I suited up, and then it was time to hit the course running...

And I do mean running, we had to complete all the tasks in 6 minutes.

The clock started, and my time keeper kept right up with me. I grabbed the elevator pack (folded house bound together for easy caring on the shoulder) and headed up the 4 flights of stairs, carefully hitting every step and holding on the rail (time penalty if those were missed). At the top, I set down the pack, and headed over to the window ledge. There laid a hose. Hand over hand I pulled the hose through the window and into the room I was in. Once I got to the end, I had to lean out and actually pull the end over a lip in the concrete. I then picked the pack back up and headed back down the stairs. I dropped the pack at the required location and headed for the Sledgehammer drill. Simple task, strike a rubber pad, 40 times with a rubber mallet. I completed that quickly. After that, pick a ladder off of the ladder stand, walk it out around a cone, and hang it back up. Again, not a problem. The next step, was the hose pull. Sounds simple enough, pull a charged hose out past a line drawn on the concrete. I grabbed the hose, swung it over my shoulder and took off. I did really good out of the gate. The hose that was snaked out on the ground began to straighten out. I could see the line was in reach, but as soon as I went to cross it, the hose stopped and flew out of my hand. The hose had finished un-coiling and all that was left was for me to rotate the hydrant end of the hose my direction. A task I completed by turning around and pulling the hose. Task completed...on to the last one, the dummy drag. For this test, I had to drag a 135-40lbs dummy through the bay and out the door. I grabbed the dummy and began to drag him. Somewhere along the way, my feet got tangled up and I fell. I got up, grabbed the dummy and finished the course in 4:00 minutes. Not bad for the first time. They did a post-test blood pressure check, and sent us home.

I had done it and with that, the dream was escalated. I finally convinced myself that this may be what I need to be doing for a career. It would just take another 3 months before anyone knew anything....and when it finally did arrive, the news couldn't be better.

Here is a video of an agility test...In case you wanted to know. While different, it does show similar tasks.