Physical capacity has previously been deemed important for firefighters’ physical work capacity, and evaluation of fitness for duty is common in the pre-hiring process. Various methods have been used to establish cut-off limits, i.e. normative data or expert judges. In accordance with government regulation, both full-time and part-time firefighters in Sweden have to pass a medical examination and a test of physical work capacity for permission to execute smoke diving. The physical work capacity test is a pass or fail test: dressed in firefighting protective clothes and breathing apparatus (total weight 24 ± 0.5 kg), six minutes walking with the incline at 8 degrees and treadmill speed of 4.5 km/h is performed. Inclusion of additional physical tests and appropriate cut-off limits is a decision taken by each individual municipality. The aim of the present study was to create a score model for evaluation of fitness for duty in the pre-hiring process of firefighters. Methods A total of 128 (64 men and 64 women) subjects: full-time firefighters, part-time firefighters and civilians, were included. Subjects performed five simulated firefighting work tasks and a selected battery six of physical tests including; 500 m rowing, grip strength, endurance bench press, track running 3000 m, standing broadjump and upright barbell row. The combined information from subjective evaluated cut-off limits, breakpoint estimation, checkpoint estimation and percentiles were used to create a score-model MO-PM30 Performance: Mixed Session 424 21ST ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE for evaluation of fit for duty. Results The models yielded various cut-off limits on the same physical test, depending on the work task investigated, but all tests were scored on a 1-11 scale. Consequently, the maximum total score was 66 and the minimum total score was 6. The recommended minimum total score of six tests is 36. Discussion In this study we created a score-model for evaluation of firefighters’ fit for duty in the pre-hiring process. When pre-hiring physical tests are performed, an easily conducted battery of physical tests is important in order to reduce costs but still maintain high validity and reliability. The score-model is easy to understand, performance gives the same score irrespectively of age and sex and makes it possible for the aspirants to prepare for the included physical tests. Since a specific physical test differs in importance in the prediction of simulated work task performance, the lack of performance in one physical test may not be fully compensated with a higher performance in another physical test. Simplifying and generalizing a method makes it practically usable at the detriment of accuracy on an individual level.