Citation

Gumieniak RJ, Poulin S, Gledhill N, Jamnik V. Work 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Faculty of Health, Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, IOS Press)

DOI

10.3233/WOR-192957

PMID

31282459

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.

Language: en

Keywords

BFOR; Type 1 WFF; fitness; initial attack; job readiness