Billy Ellison

Background

Billy is a 28 year veteran with the Charlotte Fire Department (CFD), in North Carolina, and has held the rank of Captain since 2001. He is a member of Charlotte Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 660. He became affiliated with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) in the same year, and is an original member of the Peer Fitness Trainer (PFT) instructor cadre. Along with his role as a PFT in his department, he has also been utilized as a Candidate Physical Abilities Test (CPAT) proctor for around 15 years, until retiring in October 2022. Over the 20 plus years Billy has been part of the cadre, he has had the opportunity to teach classes on both coasts, the mid-west, and northern-southern areas of the United States; even two classes in Canada. He has visited departments bigger, smaller, and comparable in size to CFD, but despite differences in location and size (among other differences), his eyes have been opened to how similar the basic calls and problems all fire fighters face, are. Billy enjoys working with fire fighters because it gives him the ability to give back to the profession, and have other fire fighters benefit from his experiences. He took his college degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Health Education, so as an instructor he also has the ability to apply his knowledge in an area he is passionate about on a wider scale, which he finds very rewarding.

Activity Habits

Outside of work, Billy has been married since 1995, and has a 21 year old son who is a senior in college, and a 17 year old daughter who is a senior in high school at this time. Currently, he gets to the gym about 5 to 6 times per week. He has moved towards using variable resistance modalities like bands, and body weight exercises, as he has found his body responds more favorably to these modes of training, and allow him to remain more consistent and do more volume. Whenever Billy is on shift he works in a walk or a bit of jogging when possible. Off shift, he walks his dog several miles per day and enjoys biking outside or using the stationary bike when it isn’t feasible to get outdoors.

Originally, Billy’s motivation to be active was related to the job. He wanted to ensure that he wasn’t the weak link that brought down his crew, and to be capable of helping his fellow fire fighters, as well as citizens, who might have been in need of his help. In recruit school Billy tore his ACL, and over the past 28 years this injury has resulted in multiple surgeries and osteoarthritis, to the point where he is essentially bone-on-bone in his left knee. Remaining physically active over his career has been a way for him to minimize the negative impact of this injury and maximize his capacity for work, life, and play related activities. Billy’s main challenge to being as physically active as he would like is his knee injury. For example, he can’t access certain ranges of motion and certain activities such as running result in soreness. With that said, he has found ways to adapt his training to work around this injury and in doing so has remained healthy, fit, and efficient and safe on the fire ground.

Perspectives on F2T and fire fighter wellness and fitness

In Billy’s opinion, the F2T program is unique because it truly is not one size fits all. The program is adaptable to whatever the background, experience, and fitness level of a fire fighter currently is. He believes that the program’s adaptability and design features also allow departments to plug into the program at a level that suits their needs and capacities. Billy feels strongly that the concepts introduced in the program, particularly around movement patterns and movement behaviour, are valuable to departments in providing a roadmap to instituting wellness-fitness programs/initiatives that are long-lasting and stick.

Billy would like departments and fire fighters to know that it is never too late to start if they need to. Once they get started, it is easy to continue regardless of what road blocks and barriers they find affect them; whether it be time, equipment, and/or availability of space. The two words he would use to describe the value of the program are simple and adaptable. Billy would advise fire fighters thinking about investing in their wellness and fitness that no matter what season of life/career they are in this program specifically, and physical activity in general, can be a significant asset to helping achieve and enjoy the things important in their lives.