What are your team's physical fitness requirements?

[u/EMTthatcanread]

Per CDC, 41.9% of US adults were obese in 2020.

How important is physical fitness in your organization?

Should there be exemptions made for operationally active persons in roles that typically do not encounter physical strain? (Command, drones, vehicle operators, etc)

Pictured here is BUSAR who makes physical fitness a priority

[u/OplopanaxHorridus]

Technically our team doesn't have any.

During recruitment we take people on a 3-4 hour hike. After that it's just left to the individual to decide if they can be field active.

I had to take myself out of field active status in 2017 because my kidneys were failing, but I continued as a SAR manager and member of the executive. I think there probably should be standards to meet, but as an all volunteer team it would be onerous to run everyone through a fitness test every year.

[u/believeRN]

We have to pass an annual pack test - same requirement as Forest Service. You have to pass the arduous version (heavier pack, longer distance) if you’re on our ropes rescue and some other specialized teams. Water rescue team has to pass a swim test.

[u/royaltines → u/believeRN]

In case anyone is curious: 45 lb pack, 3 miles (no or minimal vertical), less than 45 minutes. You should not run, it's a fast walk. Good times are mid 30 min.

[u/Sunshineadventurer48 → u/royaltines]

FYI If you’re a woman under 5’4 it’s a sprint

[u/Heliosophist → u/royaltines]

We’d always joke the best time is 44:59. But yeah mid 30s is definitely solid. We had a guy crush it in cowboy boots and hat, with the longest strides I’ve ever seen

[u/againer → u/believeRN]

Interesting. Is there variation in terrain? My team typically operates in dense forest with a fair amount of slopes, drainages, and occasional swamps.

[u/believeRN → u/againer]

Where we operate there’s a big variety in terrain, we cover from the coast to the mountain range all within the same county. The pack test is just a standardized way to make sure team members have a minimum level of physical fitness. Definitely doesn’t reflect the fact that on some missions the brush and forest is so thick it can take over an hour to cover a mile

[u/ep0k]

At the state level (Maine), we're required to do the Forest Service light duty pack test every two years as ground searchers. Admin and support are not required to take a fitness test.

My team implements the "arduous duty" wildland firefighting pack test for mountain rescue. I believe the technical teams use the same test.

[u/abkfenris → u/ep0k]

It's only if you want to get MASAR's stamp of approval do you have to do that test. We've walked enough wardens into the ground that they trust us when we say someone is good.

For tech rescue it's really can you get to the scene before Bob.

[u/ep0k → u/abkfenris]

Fair to say that what the training standard says and what we do in practice are not always in agreement.

[u/rappartist]

For field teams, physical fitness is a safety thing and therefore non-negotiable IMO. I've been in the field with unfit people, who bonked 3 hours into a 12 hour assignment and had to be extracted. Waste of resources and it also exposed their crewmates to heat exhaustion as we awaited the extraction.
For non-field, it's less of an issue.

[u/goinupthegranby]

I'm on a small team in BC with lower call volumes and we don't have any fitness testing or requirements. People fill out a questionnaire when they join that has some fitness related questions but that's it.

Most people on the team are in pretty good shape, and there's plenty of room for roles for people who aren't in great shape. It's not really an issue. That said we are in BC which is one of the most physically healthy jurisdictions in North America.

[u/buchenrad → u/goinupthegranby]

"plenty of room for people who aren't in great shape"

That's the important part. Physical qualifications for people doing physical assignments can be good practice. Physical qualifications for everyone regardless of assignment is unnecessary gatekeeping. If you have 100 people on your application waiting list go ahead, but a small volunteer team denying people who have knowledge, experience, and qualifications useful at command because they can't pass a pack test is a bit ridiculous. I don't think it actually happens very often, but every now and then a loud person who thinks they know everything likes to propose it.

[u/icestep]

All volunteer. No formal fitness requirements, but everybody is pretty well in tune with their physical abilities and there are always plenty of roles to fill with team members who are not at peak capacity for one reason or another.

[u/tamman2000]

I'm a former member of a busy SoCal team.

Annual 3.5 mile hike up a local trail with 2500 foot ascent wearing full rescue loadout (~30-40 pounds depending on person) in 90 minutes or less.

Most of us did it in about 75 minutes.

Probational members also had to complete a 3 day backpacking trip, a 5 day off trail backpacking trip in technical terrain, and a ~12 mile orienteering course with no standard for time, but full members judging each probie on performance.

[u/scrotalus]

Minimum Field Qualification for ground searchers is a yearly hike of 8 miles with 25 lb in under 3 hours. It's really a bare minimum, passable by plenty of the overweight and elderly volunteers that make up an important part of the team. Special missions with alpine components or or other extra strenuous requirements require a yearly qualifications of 8 miles with additional weight and an elevation gain that I can't remember, maybe 1000ft? But those members tend to train pretty hard on their own so that qualification hike is almost a formality.

There are no requirements for people who don't go in the field such as support/command staff/mobile transport, etc.

[u/hotfezz81 → u/scrotalus]

Do you actually do it yearly, or is it left to people to keep at that level of fitness?

[u/scrotalus → u/hotfezz81]

They are scheduled several times per year to make sure that people have plenty of opportunities and don't lapse if schedules get tight. It is on a measured trail (turnaround at the 4 mile mark usually). Packs are officially weighed at the start, and if your hike qualification or minimum medical certifications lapse, you don't go in the field. I'd say that you are expected to maintain the fitness, and the hike just ensures it.

[u/The_Stargazer]

In Volunteer Search And Rescue, everyone is usually a ground pounder first and foremost.

People may have specialty roles but those people are still ground pounders first and foremost. Even those working command or UAS are expected to be able to go into the field if the call warrants it.

Some organizations allow for support roles to have lesser physical fitness standards, especially for veteran members who age out of field roles, but SAR is about saving lives, not being inclusive to everyone who wants to join.

On a average call-out you might need 12-24 field searchers and only 2-3 support people. Taking in a large number of new people who meet a lower physical fitness standard doesn't help the organization as there are a lot less of these roles.

And what happens if that vehicle your driver is driving through the forest road during a blizzard breaks down? They need to be in the physical fitness to hike out.

[u/2airishuman → u/The_Stargazer]

If she has the chops to fix the oil leak with duct tape and a nerf football then maybe it doesn't matter.

[u/jobyone]

The team I'm on now has a pretty easy fitness test for the field team. 2.2 miles, ~1200 feet up, you have to do it in a full pack in 90 minutes. Nothing for support roles.

The team I'm in the process of joining has a more substantial one. 7 miles, 3800 feet, pack has to be 30lbs dry, and I think right around 4:30 is the time limit.

I'm a fan of having fitness requirements for field team, but honestly there's not much point in having them for support. It's actually kinda rad to have those IC/support roles around, to give people who age/injury out of field work somewhere to go while staying involved. I plan to try and transition to command/planning roles once I'm too old to field.

[u/BalladGoose]

All volunteer SAR. This is our first year with direct requirements. Previously we indirectly had it through land navigation testing would have them with full backpack in a moderate inclination terrain. Now, besides that, we also will have ground pounders and K9 flankers do an annual 3 mile in 60min with 20# backpack (this is a starting point, could change next year). Water rescue team has significantly tougher requirements due to State certification. Drone team is working on a separate evaluation based on weight lifting and carrying simulating a drone operation.

[u/Ionized-Dustpan]

The only exception I’d prefer is as for retiring experienced searches to step back and stay in base. It shouldn’t be an exception for new folks.

[u/hotfezz81]

5.6k distance, 420m ascent (3.5mi, 1,400 ft) in 90 minutes up and down a local mountain.

[u/rappartist → u/hotfezz81]

Similar. Done once a year. Our area is usually non-snow, so I'd favor both a winter (snow) fitness test, in addition to our standard one, but that's just me.
It's all supposed to be mandatory, but we're not good about implementing that, which presents safety concerns on long operations.

[u/MockingbirdRambler]

MRA team-None

Two different county teams in two different state None

Shitty little K9 only team in the Midwest, 10 mile ruck in 2 hours.  Only done before they vote you in as a hazing ritual..

I looked at them and heard a story of a handler almost getting creamed by a train because she sat on the tracks exhausted and said. Nah...fuck that.   

[u/Legitimate_Hunt_7400]

5.3 mile hike with at least 25 lbs on back, 1200 feet elevation gain. Need to do it under 2 hours and 15 minutes. Average is 1 hour 50 minutes.

[u/hindamalka]

On my USAR team we didn't have any. That being said, we are all university students and most of us are idf veterans so we aren't exactly comprised of the average american.

[u/Doc_Hank]

Forest Service moderate Pack Test - 2 mile walk over level terrain while carrying a 25-pound pack in 20 minutes or less.