Physical Fitness

Physical Fitness

Firefighting is physically very demanding on the human body. As Firefighters we only spend a very short period of our careers actually engaged in firefighting operations. Most of our time is spent in training and the day to day routine maintenence of our firestation and our fire apparatus. We therefore tend to go from a relative sedentary state to a state of extreme exhertion in a matter of seconds when the fire alarm goes off. The sudden rush of adrenalin is hard on the body, but prepares you instantly to undertake the extreme tasks that may be at hand.

It is therefore in the best interest of all firefighters to maintain a level of fitness that will enable them to carry out their duties efficiently and with a minimum of risk of injury to their bodies during firefighting operations.

Several of our firefighters used to belong to local gymnasiums and were involved in regular workout programs.We also had a small room that we had a few weights in at the firestation. During the recent seismic upgrade of our firestation, the Fire Chief was able to free up some space in the upstairs of our firestation to enable us to put together a small gymnasium. The small room we were using as a weight room was enlarged to almost double its original size. About a year ago the Firefighters formed a fitness club and started saving money from each pay cheque to put towards purchasing gym equipment. We have now realized our goal and were able to purchase some nice equipment to put in our new gym area. Many of our firefighters are now using this area to better themselves physically.

The Firefighters would like to extend a big thank you to the Fire Chief and also to the City Of Port Alberni for allowing us to have this gymnasium.