To fill out the application you will need to pay a fee of $25.00 with an additional $2.75 service fee. These fees are non-refundable. Pay the pre-application fee at signmeup.com. Enter Rockford Fire in the event heading. You will be asked to provide the confirmation number on the application. Under certain circumstances this fee may be waived, please open the application and refer to question 1 for details.

– Make sound decisions using knowledge, training and experience.

– Positively interact with our community.

– Employees occupying positions in this class are responsible for for the conservation of life and the protection of property through fire suppression, prevention, and emergency response.

-Responds to all types of rescue, fire suppression, medical and non-medical emergency calls and implements actions required to save lives and protect property.

-Participates in continuing education by studying, training, and drilling to achieve and maintain skills and knowledge.

– Participates in regular fitness program to maintain adequate health and physical strength.

-Supports and assists in the achievement of the goals and objectives of the Department.

-Candidates DO NOT have to possess a Paramedic License to test or be hired on the Rockford Fire Department.

-Minimum Age

No individual may be appointed as a sworn member of the Fire Department until he or she has passed his or her twenty-first (21st) birthday.

– Maximum age

Applicants for a position in the Fire Department must not have passed their thirty fifth (35th) birthday as of the closing date for accepting applications. Currently, Paragraph 10-2.1-6.3 of the Act provides that the age limitation does not apply (1) to any person previously employed as a full-time firefighter in a regularly constituted fire department of (a) any municipality or fire protection district located in Illinois, (b) a fire protection district whose obligations were assumed by a municipality under Section 21 of the Fire Protection District Act, or (c) a municipality whose obligations were taken over by a fire protection district. The age limitation also does not apply to any person who has served a municipality as a regularly enrolled volunteer, paid on call, or part-time firefighter for the 5 years immediately preceding the time that the municipality begins to use full-time firefighters to provide all or part of its fire protection service.

Except as otherwise provided by Paragraph 10-2.1-6.3 of the Act, no person who has attained the age of 35 or more years shall be inducted as a member of the Fire Department. Paragraph 10-2.1-6.3 provides that if a person is placed on an eligibility list and becomes over the age of before he or she is appointed to the Fire Department, the person will remain eligible for appointment until the list is abolished, or until his or her name has been on the list for a period of 2 years.

-Drivers License

An applicant shall possess a valid driver’s license at the time of hiring. At the conclusion of recruit training, the recruit must possess a valid Illinois driver’s license with a Class B, Non-CDL Permit.At the conclusion of one-year probation, the recruit must possess a valid Illinois Class B , Non-CDL driver’s license.

– Vision

An applicant upon the time of hiring shall have correctable vision to 20/20 in each eye.

-Education

An applicant shall have a high school diploma or a GED equivalent.

-Arrest Record

An applicant must not have any felony convictions nor have been convicted of certain misdemeanors.

– Citizenship

Applicants for the examination must be U.S. Citizens. Non-Citizens must meet the criteria set forth in 8 U.S.C. Section 1324b prior to the closing date of the application period.

– Residency

After being hired Firefighters must live in Winnebago County , or within fifteen mile radius of the Public Safety Building upon completion of probation.

(a) Who is found lacking in any of the established preliminary requirements for the service for which he or she applies, including those requirements set forth in the Act and these Rules and Regulations.

(b)Who uses illegal drugs or abuses alcohol.

(c) Who has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor as defined by Paragraph 10-2.1-6.3 of the Act, as amended from time to time.

(d) Who has been dismissed from any public service for good cause.

(e) Who has attempted to practice any deception or fraud in his or her application, examinations or interview.

(f) Whose character or employment history are unsatisfactory.

(g) Who does not possess a high school diploma or its equivalent.

Any applicant deemed disqualified hereunder shall be notified by the Commission.