A Walk in the Park: City Firefighters Stroll Through Arduous Annual ?Pack’ Test
By Staci Matlock, The Santa Fe New Mexican
Mar. 21–Santa Fe Fire Chief David Sperling and three other city firefighters looked chipper and unwinded after passing their annual “pack” test at Frenchy’s Park last week.
“It was a perfect day for this,” Sperling said of Friday’s cool, overcast morning after slipping off the 45-pound blue vest he wore for eight laps around the park, totaling 3 miles. He and the other firefighters had to complete the test in 46 minutes and 15 seconds. They sauntered across the finish line at 44 minutes, barely breaking a sweat.
“Walking only is allowed. No running,” said Michelle “Shelley” Nolde, the fire department’s wildland- urban-interface specialist.
The pack test — officially known as the Work Capacity Test — is required annually of all firefighters who want to fight wildfires on the front lines.
While the four physically fit men made the task look easy, the pack test has humbled less-well-prepared firefighters. “People have died taking this test,” said Duane Archuleta, fire-management officer for the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District, warning a novice last year.
Santa Fe’s firefighters looked far from cardiac arrest.
The three-mile, 45-pound pack test is the rigorous level. Normally it must be completed in 45 minutes, but extra time is allowed for higher altitudes. The moderate level requires walking two miles in 30 minutes carrying 20 pounds, and the light test is one mile in 16 minutes with no weight. Firefighters must pass the rigorous test to fight blazes as line crews, Hot Shots or engine crews.
Erik Litzenberg, a Santa Fe Fire Department captain and the test administrator, said the pack test is an incentive for firefighters. “This test makes you think long-term,” he said. “It’s easier to stay in shape all year when you know you have to do this every year.”
The Santa Fe Fire Department has joined other departments across the West that have teams with extra training in fighting wildland fires.
Fighting house fires requires one kind of knowledge and presents certain risks. Fastmoving grass fires and crowning forest fires pose different challenges and risks. Both require classroom training and field practice.
Wildland firefighters receive what’s known as the “red card” after completing a series of classes held by various city, county, state or Forest Service agencies.
The courses follow a national firefighting outline, ensuring firefighters from any state have the same basic knowledge. The red card lists the jobs for which a person is qualified on a fire, from fire command to information officer.
The Santa Fe Fire Department is entering its second year as a member of a statewide interagency, intergovernmental agreement to share firefighters and equipment. “It’s an organized way to dispatch resources all over the state,” Nolde said.
The city Fire Department has 13 men and two women on a special wildland team that formed in 2004.
Last year, the team helped fight fires in the Valles Caldera National Preserve and in Colorado. “It lets them get experience in the field, ” Nolde said.
More than 40 other city firefighters also chose to take the pack test in exchange for an extra day off.
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