Bartow Fire Department Hiring: Pay, Requirements & Benefits

The City of Bartow Fire Department is recruiting new members and has outlined job details, including pay, benefits and qualification standards.

Firefighter positions require shift work, including weekends and holidays, on a rotating schedule of 24 hours on duty followed by 48 hours off duty. This includes an additional day off every third week.

Firefighter salaries start at $33,272 and reach $49,363 over a 15-year pay scale. Fire Drivers earn between $38,794 and $57,556 on a similar 15-year plan. Lieutenants can earn $60,434 to $70,085 over a seven-year pay scale.

Employees receive 12 paid holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Staff also get two personal days. Vacation time accrues based on years of service, starting at 96 hours annually for the first five years and increasing to 192 hours after 15 years. Sick time accrues at 9.6 hours per month.

Applicants must hold a current Florida driver's license, a Florida birth certificate, a high school diploma or GED, a Florida Firefighter certificate of compliance, a Florida EMT or Paramedic license, a current CPR card and have completed the Florida Emergency Vehicle Operator Course.

Disqualifiers include any criminal charge that would revoke a firefighter's privilege to work in Florida, per Chapter 633 of the Florida Statutes. Other disqualifications include any DUI charge within the past seven years or two or more DUIs with no time limit. Any reckless driving charge within the past seven years or two or more within no time limit also disqualifies applicants. Driver's license suspensions within the past five years, or two or more with no time limit, are disqualifying. Accumulating nine or more points on a license in the past three years, or 15 or more in the past five years, will also lead to disqualification. Applicants who make false statements on their application will be disqualified.

The hiring process includes a criminal background investigation, reference checks, an oral interview, a urinalysis, a physical examination and EKG, and a psychological evaluation.