Tough enough to be a St. Paul firefighter? Our 5-foot reporter tried

Do not underestimate the dummy.

I did, and it nearly took me down. And then it almost took my eye.

That last part might be an exaggeration, but let me explain.

MPR News photojournalist Evan Frost and I had the chance recently to work out with St. Paul firefighters and academy recruits who were leading fitness boot camps for the next generation of firefighters.

They're doing this because next month, the department will begin accepting applications for firefighters.

It's a big deal, because it doesn't happen every year and when it does, it's always an extremely competitive process. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 applicants throw their names into the helmet, and the hiring process involves written and physical tests.

And that's before you even get to the interview.

The physical performance test this fall, for those who make it that far, is no walk in the park. It's made up of five exercises, including hauling a 58-pound hose bundle up five flights of stairs and carrying a 50-pound fan 150 feet — and recruits must finish the entire obstacle course in seven minutes or less.

Oh, and they also must do it while wearing 49 pounds worth of gear.

Sound daunting? It is. But that's where the spring fitness boot camps come in.

To give people an idea of what they're in store for, fire officials are holding a series of workout sessions through the end of April. These exercise drills involve planks, lunges — lots of lunges — carrying heavy equipment and pretending to break down doors, all in rapid succession. Think 30 seconds of push-ups, 30 seconds of burpees and 30 seconds of rest, and repeat.

On the day that Frost and I showed up to see whether we could keep up, we were joined by about two dozen others.

And when I say keep up, I mean it. Some of the people at the fitness session looked like they had been training for weeks; Frost and I only had two days.

Oh, and I'm 5-feet-1-inch and weigh far less than the dummy I would soon be required to "save."

The Keiser sled

This machine simulates breaking down a door with an axe or sledgehammer. In this exercise, you're supposed to use an 8-pound shot mallet to drive a 150-pound beam 5 feet.

This is the exercise I was sure I'd fail. I figured this piece of firefighting was all about brute strength — but I was wrong.

That doesn't mean you don't need upper body strength but passing this forcible entry exercise also comes down to posture and body position. A few people that I thought would have no trouble struggled because they weren't holding the mallet the right way, or they were hitting the beam too high.

Or maybe they had the same problem I did.

I was so afraid of whacking myself in the shins — or somewhere worse with the handle — that my grip was all wrong and I kept scooting my feet too far back. But after Alan Anderson, the recruit leading my group, gave me some pointers, I managed to move the beam about 2 feet.

Hey, it's a start, right?

Walking lunges with hoses

How do firefighters train for all those stairs they need to climb? They run up the IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis, which at 57 stories, is the tallest building in the state.

Or, they can do lunges. A lot of them. While carrying a giant hose. That weighs 58 pounds.

I'll take the lunges over the IDS Tower.

In this exercise, we had to balance said hose on our shoulder while lunging about 100 feet across the gym.

I almost collapsed on the first step because I attempted too big of a stride, not to mention I was already off balance with the hose resting on just one shoulder.

Small steps, my instructor told me, baby steps. Don't make the mistake of lunging as far as you can to cover more ground quickly because you might not come back up.

I was a little slow overall, but — I did it!

Now I'm ready to take on the IDS Tower.

Just kidding.

Victim rescue

And here we are at the dummy.

Now out of all the things I thought I'd be able to do, I somehow got it into my head that this would be the easiest for me to pull off. Not because it's a simple thing to do — the dummy weighs 175 pounds — but I had rationalized that if I was strategic about how I lifted the dummy, I could drag it the required 100 feet.

How silly I was.

For 30 seconds I tried to lift the dummy from under the arms and behind. And for 30 seconds, the dummy would not budge. It was almost as though it was glued to the ground.

I repositioned my arms, hoping that would do the trick. (It didn't)

I gave myself a pep talk to psych myself up: "Come on! You can do it!" (Which didn't work)

I even considered saying a little prayer, in the hopes that Patron Saint of Minnesota, Prince Rogers Nelson, was listening. (Maybe I should have. He did answer the call when the Vikings played the Saints.)

With 10 seconds left to go, Anderson, the fire academy recruit, advised "use your legs!"

"I am!" I wanted to yell. But I didn't, because I'm a Minnesotan and we don't yell at strangers, least of all strangers who are only trying to help us.

Now to clarify, firefighters and recruits do not absolutely have to lift the dummy to drag it. They must first attempt it, but if they can't or if they lose their grip, they are allowed to drag the dummy by the collar or the arms. This doesn't necessarily make it easier, since there's more surface area to drag, but it is an option.

I got a second shot at the victim rescue after my first failed attempt. This time, Anderson and another fire academy trainee "helped" me lift the dummy and I began the slow walk toward 100.

I only made it 50 feet. I was so beat I couldn't even drag it by the collar the rest of the way.

I'm pretty sure that dummy was — and still is — laughing at me.

My eye!

Now you're probably asking, "Didn't you say the dummy almost took your eye?"

After the victim rescue, I moved on to the next two workout stations, but I was still preoccupied with the dummy drag. As in, I should have been paying attention to trying to catch a weighted ball falling toward my head instead of wondering what I could have done differently to lift a 175-pound mannequin.

Which takes me to wall balls (squatting with a medicine ball, then popping up while throwing the ball up on the wall and catching it on the rebound). As you've probably guessed by now, instead of catching the ball, it smashed into my face.

It wasn't my finest moment but after checking for blood and finding none, I figured I was fine and went on my way.

Except that two hours later when I got back to the office, I began noticing the loss of some peripheral vision in my right eye. Then came the headache.

So, I did what seemed like a great idea at the time: I went home, swallowed an aspirin and took a nap.

It was only when writing this story a week later and Googling "loss of peripheral vision" (I know, I know, don't judge me) that I wondered if I had suffered a mild concussion. (If there are any doctors reading this, please send me your diagnosis. Thanks!)

But the good news is that no, I didn't go blind. My vision and the headache cleared up by the end of the day. And all has been well since then.

Try it

I asked Anderson, the firefighter recruit who had been training me, for his honest opinion at the end of the session: how did I do?

"You did good," he said.

Is that Minnesotan for "you were awful, get out of my sight?"

Then he elaborated: "The main thing we want to see is people with a drive and the motivation to not quit. You gotta push as hard as you can. You didn't just sit down and relax. You're like, 'I'll try it, I'll be open to the ideas.' And push your body," he said. "It's a hard thing to learn. Some people just don't have that in them. You gotta learn to push and push."

Whew, I feel better.

And now, over to you. If you've ever wondered if you could pass the test or you're considering applying, here's your chance. The Fire Department is hosting at least two more fitness expos before the application period closes April 30:

• 7 p.m.-8:15 p.m. March 28 at The Athlete Lab, 3225 Country Drive, Little Canada. Space is limited so register here.

• 10 a.m.-noon April 14 at North Dale Recreation Center, 1414 St. Albans St. N., St. Paul. No registration is necessary but you can RSVP here.

The Fire Department has also been making an extra effort to diversify its ranks, focusing on recruiting women and people of color. Out of 428 firefighters on staff, only 18 are women. Meanwhile, just about 10 percent overall are African American, about 9 percent Hispanic and about 20 percent Asian American.

This Saturday, the department will host a hands-on women's expo at the St. Paul Fire Training Tower. On Thursday night, they'll host their first career info session for people of color.

And, if you're up to the challenge, applications will be accepted beginning April 2.

But remember: Do not underestimate the dummy.