DCE People passes his PCA with a time he’s proud of

It wasn’t a usual Monday morning for DCE People, Brendan Nally this week. He prepared himself to take on the challenge of the Physical Competency Assessment (PCA) at Wellington’s Kilbirnie Fire Station.

Brendan scored himself a time of he was proud of – 5.27 minutes.

He shares, “Crew members from Kilbirnie were on deck to observe and encourage me through the run. I really appreciated their support, so thanks team."

“For me, the most challenging part of the assessment is the weighted stair climb, but I managed to get through it, and the support was a big help in that aspect."

Every two years, career firefighters undertake their PCA to make sure they continue to maintain the appropriate levels of fitness to respond to incidents. The PCA is developed to reflect real firefighting activities to ensure our people are not only operationally fit enough to respond to incidents safely, but can undertake those activities at the time when our communities need us.

Any change in the result, or the amount of effort required, can be an important signal to the individual about their level of fitness and health, which is why the PCA is so important.

Brendan says, “It always feels great to get the PCA done. It’s a way for me to understand where I stand fitness and health-wise, and to keep close to what our firefighters have to do for the assessment.

“I know we’re at the end of the PCA round, so the next round is not far away for many of you. Please take it seriously, because it’s intended as a tool for you to gauge where your fitness and health is at. Remember, any significant change in the time or the effort required to complete the PCA, needs to be taken seriously,” says Brendan.