Firefighter Fitness Test to Be Evaluated by 'Same Standards for Men and Women'

From 2027, Event Changes and Unified Gender Standards
Field Tests for Firefighters and Civilians This Year
Written Exams Reduced Since Last Year, Interview and Physical Fitness Weights Increased
Some Criticize "Disadvantage for Female Applicants"

Fire authorities have decided to change the physical fitness test items for hiring firefighters starting in 2027 to reflect the characteristics of firefighting duties and to apply the same evaluation criteria for both men and women.

On the morning of the 23rd, the National Fire Agency held a "Policy Briefing on Improving the Firefighter Recruitment System" and stated, "Since 2022, the National Fire Agency has been preparing a talent selection system to strengthen on-site response capabilities."

On the 18th, firefighters continued extinguishing efforts for the second day at the Coupang Deokpyeong Logistics Center fire site in Majang-myeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do. / Icheon = Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

First, since firefighting duties require strong physical fitness, the National Fire Agency plans to evaluate men and women by the same standards starting with the 2027 recruitment exam. Under the current standards, men receive 10 points for a grip strength of 60 kg or more, while women receive 10 points for 37 kg or more, meaning the criteria differ by gender; this will be improved to a unified standard.

To this end, before full implementation, a field test will be conducted this year with 1,500 active firefighters in the first half and 1,000 general public participants in the second half. The National Fire Agency explained that the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia apply the same physical fitness standards for men and women in their firefighter fitness tests.

Additionally, based on a study conducted in 2022 to improve the physical fitness test, the National Fire Agency is promoting a change in the test items to a "circuit-style 5 events and shuttle run" that reflect the characteristics of firefighting duties. The existing firefighter physical fitness test consists of six basic fitness events: grip strength, back strength, sit-ups, standing long jump, sit-and-reach, and shuttle run, which have been criticized for lacking relevance to firefighting duties on site.

Accordingly, fire authorities have decided to introduce a "circuit-style event" method that measures the muscular strength and muscular endurance necessary for firefighting work through motion analysis. The new events include ▲stair climbing and descending ▲pulling and dragging (fire hose) ▲carrying heavy objects ▲rescue ▲holding and enduring with equipment, based on situations and movements frequently encountered during firefighting tasks such as fire suppression, rescue, and emergency patient transport. For example, participants will carry a 55 kg rescue dummy by hugging it from behind and walk about 10 meters back and forth, and climb stairs holding a 10 kg kettlebell in both hands, improving the test to verify actual firefighting capabilities.

Previously, the National Fire Agency began improving the recruitment system in 2022 and changed the physical fitness and interview test methods last year. Since last year, the final selection ratio for the open competitive firefighter recruitment exam has changed from the previous 75:15:10 (written exam: physical fitness: interview) to 50:25:25. The weight of the physical fitness test increased by 10 percentage points, the interview by 15 percentage points, and the written exam decreased by 25 percentage points.

As the fire authorities' plan to change recruitment standards became known in advance, some raised concerns that the hiring threshold for female firefighter applicants might become higher. This is because the physical fitness evaluation criteria and weighting are strengthened while the written exam weighting is reduced, which could disadvantage female applicants who tend to score higher on written tests compared to male applicants.

In response, the National Fire Agency stated that the current gender-segregated recruitment method will be maintained. Shin Hee-beom, the National Fire Agency’s Education and Training Officer, explained at the briefing, "There has been no discussion about switching from segregated recruitment to integrated recruitment, and currently, recruitment is conducted separately by gender according to the requested quotas of each city and province." Currently, except for some specialized fields such as architecture, electrical, chemical, and psychological counseling experienced hires, new firefighter recruitment uses a "segregated recruitment" method where the number of recruits is set by gender. Last year, out of a total of 1,560 recruits, 102 (about 7%) were exceptions, and the rest were selected through segregated recruitment.

Bae Deok-gon, Planning and Coordination Officer of the National Fire Agency, said, "There may be advantages or disadvantages between men and women, but the fundamental purpose of the system improvement is to ensure that firefighters secure the basic physical fitness necessary to perform their duties safely and smoothly on site, so please understand it from that perspective."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.