Physical and mental fitness

Firefighters work as part of a highly skilled team. They respond to many challenges including fires, road traffic collisions and floods.  

They perform tasks involving operating heavy equipment for extended durations under demanding conditions. This requires a high level of physical fitness, mental focus and resilience.  

During the recruitment process, your health and physical fitness will be assessed. This will be done during the fitness assessment, practical selection tests and medical assessment.  

The fitness guide booklet provides information on the fitness assessment, medical and practical selection tests. It also gives guidance on how to prepare for them. Guidance on general fitness advice is also provided. This is to ensure optimal physical fitness throughout a firefighter's career. 

More details on what information we collect as part of this process can be found in our Fitness Policy Privacy Notice

The intellectual demands of the role start on day 1 of your career when you commence working towards a SCQF Level 7/ Level 3 SVQ qualification. Throughout your career you will continue to maintain your knowledge and learn new skills. You will become familiar with a large number of policies and practices, and you must be able to recall these and apply them in stressful and challenging situations.

While fire fatalities are on the decline there are other occasions where distressed, injured or deceased persons will be unavoidable.  Firefighters can often experience very difficult situations which can be traumatic.

It is not always possible to test for responses to difficult situations that may arise in being a firefighter. You should consider this seriously before progressing with your application.