FITS OVER FITNESS
BY BILL MANNING
Violence broke out at the International Association of Fire Chiefs`Fire-Rescue International conference in Kansas City this past August, as participants of the popular Firefighter Combat Challenge competition crossed picket lines formed by members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Union Local 42 protesting the event. Though the incidents were minor, the IAFC rightly called off the Combat Challenge event, avoiding the potential for greater violence.
The news of brother against brother at a high-profile conference accelerated the story. While the easily tantalized were getting the “scoop” on who hit whom and who scratched whose car, the three key players in this affair–the Union, the Chiefs, and the Entrepreneur–were seeking solutions.
In the late 1970s, Paul Davis, a firefighter and doctor of exercise physiology, became involved in a firefighter fitness research project funded by federal grant monies through the United States Fire Administration. This public-domain research became the basis for Davis` popular Firefighter Combat Challenge competition, started in 1991, and for a timed, task-based physical performance test resembling the Combat Challenge, called On Target, marketed to fire departments by ARA/Human Factors, a research and consulting firm of which Davis is president. Davis found that, in addition to its growing popularity as a sporting event, the Combat Challenge served as a good promotional vehicle for On Target, so the two were tied together promotionally.
In 1995, the technical subcommittee of the newly proposed NFPA 1583, Recommended Practice for Fire Fighter Physical Performance Assessment, recommended firefighter physical performance assessment tasks that were in essence identical to those of the Combat Challenge and On Target. Since Davis was a member of the original 1583 subcommittee, some felt the deck had been stacked. Technically the subcommittee, like Davis before it, had tapped into nonproprietary research that was anyone`s to use, for profit or not.
The IAFF flexed against the proposed NFPA 1583, opposed in principle to time-based testing as a condition of employment or promotion and concerned that it could too easily be abused as a weapon against veteran paid firefighters on the job, particularly in jurisdictions without strong collective bargaining agreements. The NFPA Standards Council dissolved the 1583 Technical Subcommittee.
In January 1996, the IAFF Executive Board called for its members, affiliates, and fire equipment manufacturers to boycott the Combat Challenge. Alfred K. Whitehead, president of the IAFF, in a communication to members, said the board`s concern “was that the Combat Challenge was being used as a marketing tool … to induce fire departments to adopt and purchase the Combat Challenge-related test as a valid method of measuring physical fitness for initial employment, promotions, and continuation of employment. However, these [tests] have not been validated as a measurement of an appropriate level of firefighter physical fitness, and in fact may cause actual physical harm to those participating in these tests.” The letter states that some IAFF members opposed the boycott “because they are competitors and believe that the competition portrays the fire fighter in a positive image.”
Davis says he is not aware of any serious injuries associated with the On Target testing program and cites examples of where the program yielded “substantial benefits.” He stands by its validity. He acknowledges that “a few fire departments use [the On Target program] as a condition of employment” but agrees to a point with the union`s position in that “it is patently unfair” to apply performance criteria without having a mature exercise/fitness program already in place.
The Kansas City incident prompted meetings between Whitehead and Davis. They were joined by IAFC President Chief Dave Paulison and IAFC Executive Director Gary Briese, who supported both the union`s position and dialogue to reach a solution. On November 6, Davis acquiesced to the IAFF demands. In his letter to Whitehead, Davis wrote, “By executive decree, I have instructed all ARA/Human Factors employees to discontinue promotion, marketing and sales” of programs containing a “timed, task-based performance testing element …. [T]he Firefighter Combat Challenge shall only serve as an international competitive entertainment/sporting event for firefighters ….”
In turn, the IAFF and IAFC agreed to assemble a fire service labor/management task force to develop a comprehensive wellness and fitness program for fire departments that will be marketed and distributed through both not-for-profit and for-profit channels, including Davis` company, should he desire.
The demands being met, the IAFF threw its full support to the Combat Challenge. Naturally, the story does not end here. It is complicated and will be finished only when there are no more line-of-duty firefighter deaths from heart attack and stress. The IAFF and IAFC should be applauded for their cooperative efforts; hopefully, their task force will help move us past many questions toward sensible fitness for the fire service.
How much responsibility for physical fitness rests on the individual, and how much on the employer? What is the point of balance between strength/fitness and wellness programs for fire departments? Can we achieve agreement at all on fitness test validity? Do we want gorillas or physically fit thinkers? How do you phase in a program for line veterans? How can a program work without some punitive incentives built in? What positive incentives should be built into the program? What are the core elements that typify a “reality-based” fitness program? Does our pursuit of better firefighter fitness seek to compensate for low staffing levels that demand two firefighters to do the work of four? How do we measure “return on investment” and establish a point of diminishing return in fitness training, dollar-wise? How much body fat is too much for a firefighter? Do we need a national standard for physical fitness assessment? Should a national standard be established, what would the legal ramifications be for a chief who, facing low daytime turnout, sends an overweight firefighter in to attack the fire? How do federal workplace regulations impact the discussion?
What do you think? I`d like to hear from you. May you have a safe and joyous holiday season.
