Philadelphia Fire Department Paramedic Applications Close August 28

Philadelphia is accepting applications for Fire Service Paramedic positions through August 28, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The opening gives qualified paramedics a chance to enter the city’s emergency medical system, but it is not itself a hiring decision or a guarantee that staffing levels or response times will improve immediately.

The active city job posting lists annual pay of $72,285 to $110,434 and says new employees will be appointed at the first step of the range. The application period opened July 6. An eligible list is projected to be established during the week of August 31, 2026, although the city says that date may change.

What Philadelphia is hiring for

The position is Fire Service Paramedic (General), a full-time Philadelphia Fire Department job involving advanced life-support and field paramedical work. Paramedics respond to emergency calls, provide medical assistance and stabilize patients for transport to a full-service medical facility.

Applicants must submit an online application and documentation, including proof of current paramedic certification. The posting requires education equivalent to completion of the 12th school grade, which includes a high school diploma or GED equivalent, along with valid paramedic certification in any state.

Certification from another state can qualify an applicant for consideration. Before appointment, however, the city requires Pennsylvania paramedic certification. The posting also requires a proper-class vehicle operator’s license before appointment and a Pennsylvania-issued license during employment.

Residency waiver is tied to staffing

The current posting includes an indefinite residency waiver for uniformed members of IAFF Local 22 in the Fire Service Paramedic title. Under the stated rule, Philadelphia’s residency requirement is eliminated until the Fire Department reaches 80% of its staffing complement for Fire Service Paramedics.

If the department reaches that threshold, the residency rule would revert under the terms described in the posting. Philadelphia residents who have maintained a bona fide city residence for at least one year before the civil service examination receive priority over other candidates with identical scores.

The waiver is therefore an indefinite policy connected to staffing conditions, not a permanent exemption unrelated to the department’s workforce needs.

How the hiring process works

This recruitment uses a modified training-and-experience evaluation. Approved applicants receive a score of 70, with eligible preference points added where applicable, and are ranked on an open-competitive eligible list. Applicants are not asked to appear for a scheduled examination.

The Fire Department’s paramedic FAQ says applicants submit education, experience, licenses and certifications for review. Candidates are evaluated on their training and experience credentials. Once the list is published, the department contacts candidates in rank order when it forms a paramedic class.

Before entering a class, candidates go through a physical examination, background check and review for possible indebtedness to city agencies. Paramedic cadets then complete a paid 12-week training program at the Philadelphia Fire Academy, followed by several weeks of field mentoring and a one-year probationary period.

The paramedic recruitment is separate from EMT hiring. The department says it hires people who are already state-certified paramedics or National Registry-certified paramedics with a valid state-issued driver’s license; it does not train applicants to become paramedics. The FAQ separately identifies prior recruitments for certified advanced EMTs and basic EMTs, which do not have identical requirements.

Why the opening matters to Philadelphia EMS

The Philadelphia Fire Department handles between 800 and 1,000 emergency incidents every day, and about 80% of those incidents are EMS calls, according to a department account of its 2025 EMT Class 8 graduation.

That workload helps explain why the recruitment matters beyond the job market. The department’s fiscal 2026 budget testimony also identifies spending for EMS medic-unit upgrades, computer-aided dispatch technology and mobile communications services.

Response-time context

The city’s Quarterly City Managers Report for the year ending June 30, 2025, recorded 40.4% of the applicable EMS calls responded to within nine minutes, below the city target of at least 90%.

The report cautions that a new 911 computer-aided dispatch system went into service in early fiscal 2025 and replaced older software. The city said the new system provides a more accurate and comprehensive picture of Fire Department data, while the department was still adjusting to new protocols for data pulls. Because of that transition, the report said a comparison with fiscal 2024 was not applicable.

The recruitment may expand the department’s future staffing capacity, but the application window does not establish how many candidates will be hired or when they would begin field work. It also does not show that EMS response times will improve immediately.

Qualified paramedics interested in the Philadelphia Fire Department must complete the online application by August 28 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The eligible-list timing is projected for the week of August 31 and may change.

Sources

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