The Los Angeles Fire Department is hiring new firefighters for the first time in five years. There are 13,000 applicants, but fewer than 150 will attend the academy. KPCC's Hayley Fox says the LAFD hopes many of those accepted will be women.
Al Perez of the LAFD Legal Liaison Unit helps applicant JJ Edgmon put on a helmet before her first practice try of the Candidate Physical Ability Test.
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Trainee Sarah C prepares for her second practice test. She barely passed the test her first time, and is hoping to improve. A 50-pound vest is used during the test, which must be completed in less than ten minutes and 20 seconds.
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Nicholas Noriega of the Verdugo Fire Academy works to improve his overall time for the physical test. The exercise begins with four minutes on a Stair-master.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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An additional 25 pounds on trainees' shoulders during the Stair-master portion, for a total of 75 pounds.
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Next, Noriega picks up a firehose, and unravels it around a barrel.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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JJ Edgmon is directed to pull excess hose from around the barrel.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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Nicholas Noriega of the Verdugo Fire Academy picks up equipment, such as a chainsaw, from a shelf. He walks to and from a blue barrel, and returns the gear.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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Firefighter Lamorris Wilcher, left, works with Noriega through the practice test. Noriega lifts a ladder against a wall, then extends it.
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JJ Edgmon said the most difficult part is the sledgehammer portion, in which trainees must hammer in a panel at least two inches.
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After crawling through a pitch-dark space, trainees must lift a mannequin to a barrel, and back.
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Firefighter Jennifer Wilcox waits as JJ struggles to finish the last portion of the exercise, which is a series of pushes and pulls to open and close possible types of building entries.
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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