Mehlville Fire Protection District Chief Tim White knows his firefighters and fire-medics are physically capable of doing their jobs.

In fact, the chief has the test results to prove it.

For the second consecutive year, district firefighters and fire-medics have had to pass a fit-for-duty evaluation. However, the fit-for-duty evaluation taken this year by employees is a nationally validated physical ability test, White told the Call during a recent interview.

While other fire departments locally and nationally administer physical ability tests,

White said employees who fail the evaluation typically continue to work. Firefighters and fire-medics not able to pass Mehlville’s evaluation are immediately sent home, he said.

“… I have high standards. I believe the taxpayers have high standards,” White said. “We must have proficiency standards. We must prove that we are able to do this job and if you cannot do this job, you will not work at the Mehlville Fire Protection District. What’s interesting, though, there are other departments that have tests annually. None of them that I know of have the stipulation that if you cannot pass it, you’re immediately pulled off the ‘track.’

“You immediately get pulled off of the fire truck. As soon as we find out that you cannot do it, you do not work.

“The other (departments), they work with you. Let’s do some more exercising. But all this time, those firefighters (continue to work) and it’s just been proven they can’t do it. And the taxpayers, the citizens, believe that they can, but it’s just been proven they can’t. But nobody knows they can’t because they assume they can because after all, they’re on the fire truck … Indeed, that’s how it’s done in the rest of St. Louis County. You go through the test — if there is a test, if there is a physical abilities test — and you get to stay on the fire truck if you don’t pass it,” he said.

“Here at Mehlville, our standards are extremely high … Everybody that gets on that fire truck will be able to do this job or they will not show up at any of our taxpayers’ doorsteps ever.”

As chief, White has focused on safety and health. The Board of Directors in April 2009 selected White to succeed Jim Silvernail, who was named chief in April 2005.

White was named administrative chief officer and assigned to work alongside Silvernail, who retired earlier this year.

In September 2009, White proposed revamping the district’s mandatory fit-for-duty policy for employees that had been established in August 2006 by the Board of Directors.

The policy needed to be revised to better reflect the conditions in which district employees work, according to White.

In November 2009, a revised fit-for-duty policy and new wellness program policy were adopted by the board. For the first time, firefighters and fire-medics were required to pass a fit-for-duty evaluation that included a variety of drills and a time component. That fit-for-duty evaluation was formulated by White with the assistance of PRORehab.

Of that evaluation, White said, “It was one that I actually designed myself. I looked nationwide at the physical ability tests that were available and they were rather difficult. So I made my own and everybody passed it last year.

“However, I was met with resistance from Local 1889 (of the International Association of Fire Fighters) in which the union firefighters went to their attorneys to try to stop it — the testing of the firefighters and to prove that they were able to do the job.

“And they based it off the fact that it was not a validated test and I conceded to the fact that yes, it was not a validated test because the validated tests were more difficult than the one I designed.”

The district also received a letter from IAFF attorneys in Washington, D.C., who questioned the validity of the test, the chief said.

“Since the district and myself were being threatened with a potential lawsuit from the firefighters because they did not like the test, I approached the Board of Directors and asked if we could get a validated test,” he said. “Now this is going to cost the taxpayers more money, but the end goal is to prove to the taxpayers that the firefighters and paramedics that work here can meet the rigors that are required in not only fire but as well as rescue incidents …”

The Board of Directors voted in June to pay Fire and Police Selection Inc. $10,000 to implement a nationally validated physical ability test for the district’s firefighters and fire-medics.

“The test that I devised actually had some of the elements that are in this (nationally validated) test,” White said. “My test — I’ll agree — was considerably easier. But with the validation process, I went on a nationwide search to look for companies who indeed would validate a test for the Mehlville Fire Protection District. The test that we found was derived from a company called FPSI — Fire and Police Selection Inc. I chose them because of the content of the actual test and the validation process as well as their references .

“(For) their validation process — they actually took a scientific approach to it. It was what I could see would be fair to the employees, but yet would meet the needs of the taxpayers in being a test that would truly identify that they could do the job. In other words, it was not watered down. Far too often you see tests that are watered down or behind closed doors … nobody really knows the firefighters are taking it and times can be altered. There is no sound method of accountability.”

The nationally validated fit-for-duty test includes 10 stations with such scenarios as an extension ladder raise, roof walk, attic crawl and stair climb with hose. For the roof ventilation station, the employee must swing a 12-pound sledge hammer 30 times into a makeshift roof.

All 10 stations must be completed in 7 minutes and 5 seconds.

“You must be able to do all of that in seven minutes and five seconds,” White said. “You’re going to hear the arguments from the employees, from the union, saying this, that and what have you. My contention is that being a firefighter for over 25 years, over a quarter of a century, I know that the first seven minutes of a fire — whether you’re first or second in — you are operating at that level of intensity. You are kicking it out that hard to get things set up, to look at the building that’s on fire.

“Are there people trapped? I’m going in. I’m doing this. I’m doing that. And you are expending yourself to that level. So this is not something that is actually unrealistic to the job specific. It is something that is required of a firefighter to be able to operate at the level of intensity for seven minutes and five seconds.”

To ensure the validity of the test, a FPSI representative spent two days at the district overseeing the evaluations, which were proctored by U.S. Army representatives.

Of the district’s 112 firefighters and fire-medics, all but two passed the test. After 30 days, the two were retested. One passed and returned to work immediately. The second failed and has not returned to work.

“At the end of it, everybody passed the test the first round except for two people and according to our Employee Manual of Policies and Procedures, if you do not pass it, you cannot work. So they were taken off the ‘track’ for 30 days and in that 30 days, they had a choice to make: Either I can exercise and get in shape and pass this test or I can sit there and not do it. In other words, can you do it and do you want to do it?”

Another aspect of the fit-for-duty testing, White said, involves employees having confidence in their co-workers’ ability to perform the duties of the job.

“… What was happening was the firefighters were going home to their families and saying: If anything ever happens to me, it’s because they teamed me up with firefighter X and he can’t do the job. And nobody will do anything about it,” he said. “Well, there basically was an agreement: Let’s not point this out in public. But the fact of the matter is in the past we never tested to make sure anybody could do their job.

“Since I’ve taken over, I’ve made it a point to No. 1, let the taxpayers know that the firefighters and paramedics can and indeed do the job physically. Secondly was to let the families of the firefighters and paramedics know that I as the chief am going to make sure that everybody here can do the job so that your husband or wife who works here is being teamed up with somebody who can indeed do the job. It’s all about safety and it’s about performance and service to the taxpayers.”

To ensure the health of employees, the district offers health insurance, a wellness program complete with blood testing, physical training equipment and nutrition counseling. In addition, a personal trainer has tailored individual workout programs for employees.

“So the district has done everything possible to make sure that they have the ability to be able to perform their job,” White said. “Now the question is: Can you? And do you want to?”

That’s what Mehlville taxpayers want to know, he said.

“We pay you over $80,000 a year to do this job. Can you and do you want to for the $80,000 we pay you? I as the chief have given my commitment to the public that they will have the best and in order to have the best, you obviously have to test for proficiencies …

“The fact is that the firefighters and paramedics have proven that they can indeed do the job and do it with excellence,” he said. “There was a little kicking and screaming at first, but the fact is they can do it.

“They know they can do it. The taxpayers know they can do it. And now we’re at a level that is unmatched by any other fire department because of this proficiency testing.”