The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has an excellent page explaining the what-and-why of  CPAT (Candidates Physical Aptitude Test). [NB: some seem to substitute “Ability” for aptitude, as will be evident in a quick google search.] CPAT is in widespread, if not universal, use in the United States. The IAFF is composed of actual firefighters, and represents them; they speak, to my mind, with great authority.

My very informal research suggests that active firefighters – and perhaps many firefighter candidates – can, in fact, perform CPAT easily, and are capable of shorter times, and heavier resistance (i.e. weight) than required by the test. Here’s a brief description of the test, from the IAFF website:

During the entire test the candidate must wear a 50 lb. weighted vest (simulating the weight of a fire fighters protective clothing and equipment). The eight events are:

1. Stair Climb (climbing stairs while carrying an additional 25 lb. simulated hose pack),
2. Ladder Raise and Extension (placing a ground ladder at the fire scene and extending the ladder to the roof or a window),
3. Hose Drag (stretching uncharged hoselines, advancing lines),
4. Equipment Carry (removing and carrying equipment from fire apparatus to fireground),
5. Forcible Entry (penetrating a locked door, breaching a wall) and
6. Search (crawling through dark unpredictable areas to search for victims)
7. Rescue Drag (removing victim or partner from a fire building),
8. Ceiling Pull (locating fire and checking for fire extension)

The target time for completion, as a pass-fail test, is 10 minutes, 20 seconds.

So far as I know, there’s no requirement – or classification system – for members of CERTs (Community Emergency Response Teams), the excellent FEMA program whose adoption varies widely from locality to locality. Irwin Redlener, in his must-read Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do, argues that individual fitness (and fitness across a community, or larger population) is one of the essential steps to reduce to disaster risk and mitigate outcomes.

So why not use CPAT as a factor in assessing the readiness of civilian responders? Make it part of the voluntary training of CERTs,  3 Steps Teams, or, for that matter, part of the high-school physical education requirement. From the pool of volunteers that can manage the test, we’ll probably know who is able to handle the more physically demanding aspects of disaster response, inspire others to become more fit, and who might be inclined to get more training – NASAR (National Association for Search and Rescue) courses, and the like.

It doesn’t require much to know that Americans, on the whole, could be much fitter, and we’d benefit from that, individually, collectively, in many ways, including increased general public health (and its corollary, decreased health care costs).  Perhaps it’s time to set standards and goals for civilian responders as well as paid and regular (e.g. volunteer firefighters, who are professional in one sense, but unpaid for the most part). And perhaps CPAT is one way to start that.