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A Word about Fitness

The steps you took to prepare for the entrance physical agility test should pale in comparison to the workout regime that you utilize in preparation for Marietta's Recruit School.

The Marietta Fire Department recognizes the need for its people to achieve maximum fitness levels. Chief Gibbs is very serious about allowing time for his Firefighters to work toward that end.

Nearly every day as part of the recruit school schedule, instructors lead Firefighter Recruits in extremely intense workouts. To see actual footage of these grueling workouts, log on to www.CrossFit.com. The program our Recruits follow varies with WODs from CrossFit, runs at Kennesaw Mountain, as well as other fitness elements.

Chief Gibbs, Deputy Chief of Operations Danny Rackley, and numerous fire personnel have been doing the CrossFit workout for several years. Because they believe CrossFit to be the ultimate firefighter workout, our department has adopted it as our main fitness program.

Many of the CrossFit exercises and Workouts of the Day (WODs) mimic the exhaustive work that Firefighters perform. The workouts push Firefighters to a level of fatigue that they often face during fire fighting operations; when an individual is able to go beyond that extreme limit in the fitness room, he or she can use that tenacity to do the same when physically and memory taxed on the fireground. Practicing this skill is critical for the life of the individual, but also other Firefighters and the civilians he or she has sworn to protect.

Actual Comments about Marietta Fire Department's Fire Recruit School from Former Recruits

The intensity of the program was at a really good level as far as the physical demands and the pressure of knowing all the information to do the job right.

It would be helpful to have a list of exercises before recruit school starts so that I could prepare myself for the copious amounts of pull-ups and push-ups.

It is motivating to have your instructor working out with you, knowing that he's right there next to you, sweating and doing the same exercises and workout that you are.

I should have been in better condition before I entered training.

Earlier in the course, I would have said that the instructors are too mean to the students, but I learned that it's done for a reason-to really see what were made of.

I have been more than impressed with the Brotherhood of the entire Marietta Fire Department.

These past three months have been a great experience.