AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM Firefighter Ben Cazimero demonstrated "forcible entrance" at the fire department's Candidate Physical Ability Test demonstration yesterday.

HFD unveils new
challenging firefighter test

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

After completing the Honolulu Fire Department's new Candidate Physical Ability Test within the allotted time limit, firefighter Ben Cazimero declared the new test more physically demanding than the one he had to complete a year and a half ago.

The new test, which firefighter candidates will undergo in September, includes eight tasks that must be completed in 10 minutes and 20 seconds.

"All the different things you do in a span of 10 minutes, it was trying, real trying," said Cazimero, who demonstrated the test for the media yesterday.

All of the Honolulu firefighters who have tried the new test said the first task is the hardest. Following a 20-second warm-up at 50 steps per minute, candidates are required to complete three minutes of stair climbing at 60 steps per minute while wearing 75 pounds of weights -- that's the approximate weight of a self-contained breathing apparatus and high-rise pack.

The other tasks are:

>> Extending a hose 100 feet, then loading 50 feet of it into a box.

>> Carrying firefighting equipment 150 feet.

>> Raising a ladder and extending it.

>> Striking an object with a sledgehammer with at least 850 pounds of force to simulate breaking through a wall or door.

>> Crawling through a dark maze.

>> Dragging a 165-pound mannequin 70 feet.

>> Simulating breaking through a ceiling by completing four sets of pushing up an 85-pound weighted lever three times and pulling down on a 65-pound lever five times.

The last seven require wearing only 50 pounds of weight. With an 85-foot walk in between each tasks, there is no opportunity to rest.

The new test is the result of a joint effort of the International Association of Fire Fighters and International Association of Fire Chiefs to standardize the physical ability test for recruits. It was unveiled in 1999 at an IAFC Physical Fitness conference in Waikiki. HFD is one of 113 fire departments licensed to conduct the test.

The new test more closely matches the kinds of tasks firefighters will perform on the job, said Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi. "This was developed to give the true meaning of a firefighter," he said.

The old physical agility test, developed by HPD, was administered over two days. On the first day, recruits were required to run a mile within eight minutes and, following a break, climb a 70-foot ladder. On the morning of the second day, candidates were required to swim 100 meters within two minutes and 15 seconds and retrieve a weight from the bottom of a 10-foot-deep pool. In the afternoon was the relay, a series of tasks involving extending, dragging and carrying hoses, both empty and filled with water, within two minutes.

HFD has also added the swim and dive to the new test in addition to the eight other tasks.

Few women passed the old test, Leonardi said. Of the department's 1,038 firefighters, only five are women. But he is optimistic more women will pass the new test even though it is more demanding because the department is helping all candidates prepare for the test.