Inside the Flames
The Making of a Military Firefighter
It’s been nearly 5 whole months now that I have been working with DoD firefighter students in San Angelo Texas at Goodfellow AFB. An all branches military firefighter school where ~300 male and female students come shortly after basic to be put through an aggressive 68 days of training over multiple phases of drill work, lectures, exams, and physical tests all while sustaining their military requirements, training, physical standards, and career progression. The work here never ends as new class cohorts begin as quickly as they exit graduation. What I have observed is truly profound not just as a human performance consultant for the academy but as a person who has never gotten the insider perspective of how becoming a firefighter looks and works.
By all means, these students are training to be a well-trained firefighter. Not just a Soldier, Marine, Coast Guardsmen, or Airmen, but a firefighter. They retain the roots of their respective military branch no doubt about it, but the immediate priority, once they arrive here, is to become a well-trained firefighter, graduate, then be sent out to one of the hundreds of military installations around the world to serve as a first responder within a military FD.
My job here is to assure these students stand the best possible chance to succeed through the drills and tasks that are most physically demanding for them to complete. This requires me to design physical training plans fit for firefighters’ needs specifically as well as preventing common injuries from taking place. One very big part of my job here unique to San Angelo is the location of the academy three and a half hours directly west of Fort Worth. Seven months of the year it’s 80+ degrees, often nearing 100+ at peak summer season for several days on end. This would be challenging for any occupation to function in. Now add in 56lbs (in my case) of bunker gear that is not designed to ventilate body heat. Yeah, it gets really toasty, really fast out here!
I really wanted to know just how much of an impact the bunker gear made on performance and basic movement and common drills firefighters perform. What better way to find out than by doing it! I got myself decked out in full bunker gear, SCBA, mask, helmet, gloves, boots, the whole shebang! I then asked to be put through 6 of the most challenging physical drills the students must pass in the academy. This is what I took away from that experience:
- The bunker gear makes all movement much, much harder to do.
- The SCBA tank throws off your center of gravity and balance.
- The gloves reduce manual dexterity, grip, fine motor movement of the hands and tool handling ability.
- The boots feel like wearing heavy, wet, mud-caked hiking boots.
- The helmet and mask reduce visibility and peripheral field of vision quite a bit.
- The mask and SCBA when “on-air” feels very foreign, unnatural and a little scary at first. Like using a snorkel but even harder.
- You get hot! Fast! Just putting the gear on in normal comfortable temps breaks a sweat. Add heat, humidity, direct sunlight, physical activity…and your drenched in sweat within minutes. Even standing or sitting in the gear is hot!
- The rapid and sustained body heat from the bunker gear makes physical exertion and perceptions of effort much, much higher than if the gear was not being worn.
- The total weight (56lbs for me) of the gear adds increased effort and fatigue for any task you do. Just imagine wearing a 56lb vest while doing anything…its harder!
Having been able to not only see the students do these drills over and over again, ask the instructors about best practices within those drills, but to also experience those drills first hand was critical for me as a strength and conditioning specialist to understand in 100% clarity how it feels to wear the gear the firefighters do. Just to note, I was a football player in high school and wrestler all through college. I do 5–10k obstacle course races quite often, and I compete in powerlifting as well. I am no stranger to the requirements of hard training and peak physical performance. Firefighting in gear has unique mental and physical attributes that change the whole game in ways I never considered until now. I have a new respect for firefighters here and anywhere having experienced what they go through each day and sometimes multiple times a day.
I take great pride in helping these military members of the US armed forces proceed forward in becoming the next generation of men and women firefighters around the world to respond to all types of fire emergencies located on military installations. I now have a much bigger view and appreciation for the men and women of the fire service than I ever had before.
