Airservices ARFF deserves its own preparation plan. Copying another service’s task circuit can leave you training hard without understanding the actual assessment, while focusing only on fitness can leave an application or posting requirement unresolved.
This guide uses current ARFF career facts. FirePrep’s training suggestions are recommendations, not official gates or substitutes for the assessment. Start with eligibility, then build your preparation around the actual testing and employment commitments.
Check eligibility before investing in testing
The age rule is: Minimum age: 18. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Work rights are: Australian/NZ citizen or Australian permanent resident; Darwin requires Australian citizenship. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Preserve the location-specific qualification rather than assuming every posting has an identical citizenship condition.
Education and experience are described as follows: Year-10/12 plus two-year qualifying FTE experience, or bachelor/master degree. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. If your qualification or work history does not fit the wording clearly, seek an answer from recruitment rather than assuming equivalence.
Licensing also has its own deadline: Unrestricted manual licence; self-funded HR one month before start or offer-specified date. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Make a realistic plan for any required qualification and expense, but do not replace the offer’s instructions with a generic online timetable.
Build an evidence checklist
For application submission: CV/application answers required; online assessments follow closing. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. For first aid: Current first aid at assessment centre; higher clinical qualifications may qualify. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. English-language evidence is also specified: Provide documentary English-language evidence for radio licensing; published education/work-history routes apply. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
Keep documents organised by the stage at which they are needed. Check names, dates and completeness before submission. If the instructions offer different evidence routes, confirm which applies to you rather than providing a large collection of unrelated documents.
For water stations: Water stations: accepted qualification or ARFF water test before assessment centre. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Do not turn that qualified requirement into a generic swimming gate for every firefighter service.
Understand the current physical assessment
The protocol change is important context: ARFF’s PAT standard changed on 16 May 2025. Candidates must use the current official demonstration and assessment instructions. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-07); confirm the current candidate information pack. The assessment order is: Order: beep, mid-thigh pull, isometric push-up, countermovement jump. Each must pass; failure ends PAT. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
This is why old circuit descriptions and ordinary gym scores should not be treated as current ARFF results. Train the capacities you need, but keep the distinction between preparation and official measurement visible.
Medical clearance is also a prerequisite: Medical clearance precedes PAT. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. A confident training session does not replace it.
Shuttle preparation: pace and instructions
The shuttle benchmark is: beep test level: ≥ 9.1 level — 20m shuttles; minimum level 9, shuttle 1. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Its technique and termination conditions are: Foot touches/crosses 20m line; await beep. Two consecutive missed arrivals terminate; continued early departures after warning also terminate. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
FirePrep recommends progressive aerobic training and controlled practice of the prescribed turns and audio. Do not sprint ahead to “bank” time or count a practice under different line rules as a pass.
Use training results to identify a gap and monitor change. A personal margin is a preparation buffer, not an extra official threshold.
Mid-thigh pull: force, not a lifted gym mass
The full current requirement is: isometric mid thigh pull newtons: ≥ 2300 newtons — Fixed mid-thigh bar/force plates, lifting straps; maximum force held ≥2 seconds; three repetitions. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
General strength work may support preparation, but a barbell deadlift does not establish the force-plate result. Do not convert the published force into a supposed equivalent weight you must lift in the gym.
FirePrep recommends learning controlled lower-body and trunk strength patterns with suitable coaching. If appropriate testing familiarisation is available, use it to understand setup and effort rather than improvising an unsafe fixed-bar arrangement.
Isometric push-up: understand what is measured
The protocol is: isometric push up newtons: ≥ 740 newtons — Force plates; elbows 90 degrees, upper back against bar; maximum force ≥2 seconds; three repetitions. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
An ordinary push-up repetition count measures something different. It may be a useful training exercise, but it cannot certify the force requirement under the official setup.
Develop upper-body strength progressively and seek guidance if shoulder, wrist or back symptoms arise. Avoid repeated maximal pushing against makeshift immovable equipment.
Countermovement jump: technique and repeatability
The requirement is: countermovement jump height cm: ≥ 21 cm — Force-plate jump, hands on hips, chest up; three repetitions; remain still 2–3 seconds between repetitions. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
FirePrep recommends building movement quality before adding demanding jump training. Appropriate strength, landing control and recovery matter more than chasing daily maximum jumps.
A phone estimate, wall mark or box-jump height is not automatically equivalent to a force-plate measurement. Record the method used in your training log so you do not compare unlike results.
Safety and attempt planning
The assessment safety rule is: Assessor may stop unsafe testing; no further components can then be attempted. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Attempt spacing is qualified guidance: Airservices recommends at most two PAT attempts in three months; this is guidance, not a guaranteed entitlement. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
Do not treat that recommendation as guaranteed permission to book another test. A separate assessment-centre rule is: Assessment-centre failure: twelve-month reapplication wait. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Ask recruitment which rule applies to your result before planning a return.
The PAT setback guide helps turn available feedback into a targeted rebuild without assuming a universal retest policy.
Medical, security and employment planning
Employment medical requirements are separate from physical-test clearance: Employment requires CASA Class 2 medical plus drug/alcohol screening. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Colour-vision assessment is described as follows: Ishihara screening followed, when indicated, by Farnsworth testing; practical vision test is unavailable. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Do not infer individual suitability from a diagnosis or an online self-test.
For security: ASIC security/background screening is required. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Keep declarations accurate and ask how to clarify any question you do not understand.
Selection does not remove later practical obligations. Twelve-month talent pool; later applications may require PAT/assessment centre. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. A pool arrangement should not be treated as a guaranteed start date.
Training and posting: decide whether the commitment fits
Training is: Eleven-week training at Melbourne ARFF station. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Posting conditions are: No FIFO; preferred location not guaranteed; minimum three-year initial posting. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack.
Discuss housing, family responsibilities and location flexibility before applying on the assumption that a preferred airport is assured. FirePrep recommends budgeting from actual travel and accommodation information, not a generic recruitment cost estimate.
The current course status is: 2026 courses are filled; RC109 is planned for early 2027, subject to change. source review overdue (review due 2026-10-08); confirm the current candidate information pack. Read any qualification in full and use current candidate instructions for your own arrangements.
Build your preparation around the whole pathway
Combine a manageable aerobic and strength programme with application evidence, reasoning practice and truthful behavioural examples. The longer FirePrep plan provides a structure that must be adapted to ARFF’s protocols; it is not an official course.
Use the readiness check to organise priorities, not to certify a force-plate result or predict an offer. The goal is to arrive informed, prepared and realistic about both the assessment and the job commitment.