Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Health, Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| [b]
Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), Resource Management Working Group, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Veronica Jamnik, PhD, Room 358, Norman Bethune College, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3. Tel.: +1 416 736 2100/22995; E-mail: ronij@yorku.ca.
Note: [1] Data provided by the CIFFC Resource Management Committee– WFX-FIT Team 2016.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:To assess the post-implementation impact of the Canadian Type 1 Wildland Fire Fighter (WFF) Fitness Test Circuit (WFX-FIT), a retrospective descriptive analysis of anonymized aggregate data collected between 2012–2016 was conducted. OBJECTIVES:The objectives were to examine the pass rates of Type 1 WFF in each fire jurisdiction and on the standard for exchanging Type 1 WFF between agencies, the interagency exchange standard, by age group and sex and to propose what other information could be of value in assessing the effectiveness of implementing a physical employment standard. METHODS:Frequencies and pass rate percentages were compared by sex and age groups (<40 years, ≥40 years). RESULTS:Between 2012–2016, pass rates for all participants on the jurisdictional and interagency exchange performance standards improved from 93.2% to 95.6% and 79.1% to 87.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:We conclude that since the WFX-FIT was implemented, there has been an increase in the number of exchange-eligible Type 1 WFF for suppression of wildfires in Canada.
Keywords: Type 1 WFF, initial attack, BFOR, job readiness, fitness
