GRAND FORKS (AP) - It was a job interview more grueling than most.

The Alerus Center was transformed into a firefighters training school, with hoses and equipment placed around the floor to create an exhausting course for those hoping to join the Grand Forks Fire Department.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Fire Fighters created the candidate physical ability test to assess potential firefighters last week.

Grand Forks Deputy Chief Mike Flermoen said the health and fitness ability of the applicants, as demonstrated on the course, will become a permanent part of the department's selection process.

The test is part of the Fire Service Joint Labor Management Wellness-Fitness Initiative. The firefighter hopefuls, who also completed a written exam, were tested rigorously in eight stations.

The candidates each donned a helmet, gloves and a 50-pound weight vest before beginning the course. If they completed the tasks successfully in less than 10 minutes 20 seconds, they passed.

Candidates added an additional 25 pounds to the 50 they already carried before completing the first task, a stair climb.

They then doffed the extra weight and continued to the hose drag, where they pulled a fire department hose around a barrel and then wound it up.

Other stations included an equipment carry, a ladder raise and extension, a test of forcible entry, a search in an enclosed maze on their hands and knees, a test in which they dragged a 165-pound mannequin to safety and a ceiling pull.

"You definitely have to be in aerobic shape," said Delray Huot, of Crookston, Minn., who completed the course.

He said the stair climb was the hardest part of the course, because of the extra weight he had to carry and because the stairs moved slower than he was used to. But he said the test seemed to be a fair assessment for people looking to join the fire department.

"There is no way to cheat this," he said. "You just keep going."

Huot is taking fire technology courses at Northland Community and Technical College and hopes to find work as a firefighter after graduation.

Paul Hansen, of Fertile, Minn., said the course brought him one step closer to his lifelong dream of being a firefighter. It seemed to be a realistic representation of the challenges firefighters face, he said.

Members of the Grand Forks Fire Department helped time candidates on the course and read instructions along the way.

Firefighter Dave Manthei said the course is a good representation of what he does every day.

"A lot of our work is upper body, but you have to use your legs, too," he said. "I think it's a good course."

The firefighters expect to set up the course for potential candidates about once a year, depending on how many new firefighters are needed locally.

"We hired about 12 guys in 1972," Manthei said. "They can all go out in the next two to three years."