This will be a little long but bear with me on this. I have taken a few CPAT’s and I will give you info on what to expect. Cardio is probably the biggest and mental preparedness will also help.
The following was a CPAT I took for a department that has supposedly the hardest one in the state. All of these physical tests were conducted in a time limit of 8 minutes for all of them to be completed. You were fully dressed in Turnout gear and had to wear an SCBA with your air on. Your time started once you turned your air on.
1st obstacle, take a 2 ½ hose line fully charged from one end of the fire house and extend it straight to a designated area marked by tape. This meant to take it from a looped state to an extended state and back to a looped state, usually 150’ out and 150’ back. Once you complete the evolution you go to the next obstacle.
2nd Take a 12 ft roof ladder off from the wall of the station positioned 6 ft off the ground and walk the ladder to the outside of station to a marked area. Raise ladder to working position and go up ladder and touch designated area. Descend ladder and do another evolution involving taking a 15 lb sledge hammer and hitting the end of a 6x6 piece of board that was anchored so it wouldn’t move. This was to simulate using an axe. You had to strike the 6x6 a total of 10 times and you had to swing this at a minimum of shoulder height. Once complete then take the ladder back down and take it back to the station wall. This was approximately 20 to 30 ft from where you set it up. When carrying the ladder you had to carry it using the trained method of butt end down, but not touching the ground. If the ladder touched the ground at any time during transport to the designated area you had to start over by hanging ladder back up and starting again from start including the sledge hammer swing.
3rd evolution was to carry a 2 ½ inch hose rolled up and carry it across a 4x6 inch beam 30 ft without falling off the beam. If you fell off you had to start over again.
4thevolution involved climbing through a 4 foot by four foot window. They had constructed a window that was on a stable stand that you had to climb through. It was approximately 4-5 feet off the ground.
5th evolution was carrying a high rise hose pack (100 ft of 1 ½ with a nozzle connected rolled up and roped together) up 3 stories in their hose tower. You could not run up the stairs just move quickly. Once to the top you had an area taped off that was 3 ft x 3 ft that you had to put the high rise pack down, do not throw it down. Then grab a rope that was on the railing and pull up a rolled 1 ½ hose hand over hand the full three stories. Once you get that to the top you had to pick the high rise pack back up and go down 4 stories to the basement and lay the high rise pack back down without throwing it.
6th evolution was to go through the darkened basement area using the left or right search technique to locate a 150 pound mannequin. Once you found the mannequin you had to carry the mannequin outside and up one story to the finish line. This was about 100 ft or so from start to finish. After getting through all evolutions and this one being last you were just flat worn out.
This all had to be completed in 8 minutes or less. I was 35 when I did this and apparently I was the oldest person that had applied at that time. I was able to complete all the evolutions with 7 minutes and 48 seconds. I had about 5 minutes rest time before I had to climb the aerial ladder of 150 ft. There was no time limit to climbing that and you could have your face piece off but that had to be the longest climb of my life. The on duty crew was there including the chief who had showed up to watch me complete this. Having the chief there was a big deal according to the crew because he usually didn’t come to these tests. All of the guys were encouraging me on to complete because they wanted to see the old man whip the young guns.
In talking with the crew they said that a lot of the guys that were in their early twenties didn’t even get to the 3rd or 4th evolution before quitting. My advice is to mentally prepare yourself and tell yourself that you will finish regardless of how long it will take. It was mid July when I took mine at 7:00 pm and temps were in the mid 90’s and humidity was also very high that day. I was spent when I was done and I went straight to Lake Michigan and took a long soak.
The other CPAT’s that I did were very similar and all involved evolutions that were timed. The above one was the only one that I did with that strict of a time limit.
Hopefully this will give you some idea of what to expect. Cardio and mental preparedness are the key things. Also calmness and determination will help and show how serious you are about this.
Let me know if you need any further info as I will share whatever I can. Were neighbors as I live just South of you in Laingsburg.
