Fire Inspector

Salary: $63,800.00 - $102,200.00 Annually
Location : Fire - 550 Summit St, Elgin, IL
Job Type: Full Time
Job Number:
Department: Fire
Division: Fire
Opening Date: 10/26/2026
Closing Date: 11/29/2026 11:59 PM Central

POSITION OVERVIEW
Seeking an experienced individual to join the Elgin Fire Department at the City of Elgin as a Fire Code Inspector. Candidates should possess a thorough knowledge and understanding of the fire and life safety codes and standards as adopted by the City of Elgin. Candidates should also possess strong verbal and written communication skills and the ability to cooperate with and coordinate activities with internal departments and outside agencies on matters related to building code, fire code and life safety code compliance issues. To view more information on this position please click this link:

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Fire Code Inspector operates as a member of the Fire Prevention Bureau and operates under the direction of the Fire Code Official and Fire Chief.

• The Fire Code Inspector is responsible for conducting a thorough and professional inspection of buildings, structures, facilities, sites, and/or suppression systems located within the jurisdiction of the Elgin Fire Department.
• The Fire Code Inspector must possess strong verbal and written communication skills; display the ability to cooperate with and coordinate activities with outside agencies assisting in the matters related to building code, fire code, and life safety code compliance issues; identify fire code related violations, deficiencies, or discrepancies in design, installation, or existing conditions at the time of inspection
• Create a written record detailing the issues found at the time of inspection and documentation of all actions necessary to gain compliance.
• This role requires a thorough knowledge and understanding of the fire and life safety codes and standards as adopted by the City of Elgin.
• Duties include:
  • Inspect and evaluate a building or facility for fire code and life safety code concerns/violations
  • Evaluates the fire protection systems and equipment that are provided for life safety and property protection within a structure
  • Evaluate the egress elements of a structure and ensure the means of egress are provided for and located in accordance with the applicable code and standard requirements
  • Inspect and evaluate a structure for code compliance related to storage, handling, and use of hazardous materials; and the processes or operations utilizing hazardous materials
  • Verify compliance with construction documents so that life safety systems and building service equipment are installed, inspected, and tested to perform in accordance with the code requirements and related engineering documentation
  • Conduct and document water flow testing results for fire hydrants located within the City of Elgin
  • Pursue legal action regarding non compliant buildings, facilities, and structures; including but not limited to the issuance of citations and the initiation and pursuit of court action to ensure compliance with fire and life safety code violations
  • Working at night, on weekends and on holidays with advanced notice
  • Working inside and outside environmental conditions
  • Ability to climb multiple flights of stairs, ladders, and unstable surfaces, bending, traversing through numerous types of occupancies
  • Performs related tasks as assigned

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Must have knowledge of City of Elgin fire and building codes and other ordinances, standards and regulations relating to fire safety, life safety, and building construction
• Must understand and interpret Local, State, and National statutes, standards, and regulations related to fire code inspections, life safety code inspections, and building code inspections; permit requirements for the City of Elgin as adopted in local ordinance; plan review requirements for the City of Elgin as adopted in local ordinance occupancy classification types, the fire hazards present in various occupancies, and the occupant load factors relating to various occupancy classifications and usage; basic report writing techniques including English usage, spelling, punctuation and grammar
• Must be able to recognize and identify fire hazards and life safety violations within a structure, building, or facility; properly comprehend, interpret, and apply codes, standards, and other legal requirements related to fire inspections; portray an image of integrity, professionalism, and competency through written and verbal communication skills; complete and maintain the educational and training requirements as established for the assignment by the Assistant Fire Code Official, Fire Chief, City of Elgin or other local, State, or Federal mandates; calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, percentages, area, circumference, and volume; apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry; solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists; interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form
• Must be able to identify and solve problems; control situations involving irate and emotionally distraught persons; respond to and make decisions under stress of emergency and confrontation; make a written record of observations and actions taken; use a computer to enter and retrieve information. Train other fire personnel in the inspection process; quickly learn and put to use new skills and knowledge brought forth by rapidly changing information and technology
• Must have general office record keeping and filing methods
• Must be able to safely drive assigned city vehicles to areas of assignment
• Must be able to work with various electronic platforms as they relate to plan reviews, inspections, record keeping, report writing, training, email and other business solutions

REQUIREMENTS include:
• Possession of an appropriate driver's license valid in the State of Illinois
• Must meet and maintain all departmental and state training and certification requirements for the position
• Must possess Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal Inspector 1 certification, ICC Inspector 1 certification or NFPA Inspector 1 certification

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal Certified Basic & Advanced Fire Prevention Officer
• Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal Fire Inspector certification.
• ICC Inspector 2 certification or NFPA Inspector 2 certification
• Bilingual ability is desired but not required.

Vacation

• 1 to 5 years of service - 2 weeks
• 6 to 10 years of service - 3 weeks
• 11 to 21 years of service - 4 weeks
• 22 or more years of service - 5 weeks

The city manager, in the city's discretion, may also include up to eleven (11) years of non-City of Elgin prior professional or supervisory service of an employee in the same or similar field in determining years of service of an employee for the purpose of vacation at initial hire. If an employee is granted vacation accrual in a higher range than one (1) to five (5) years of service, he or she shall not advance to the next range until he or she has attained the required number of years of service with the city for such range.

The accumulation of vacation leave shall be limited as provided by Ordinance No. S11-09, as amended.

Sick Leave - Fifteen (15) days (in 12-hour increments for Fire shift personnel) will be placed on account when commencing employment, plus annual accrual of one day (8 hours) per month. Employees may accumulate sick leave up to a total maximum accrual of 241 sick days, which is the equivalent of 1928 hours of sick leave.

Life Insurance - in an amount equal to the nearest $1,000 of the employee's annual base salary.

Holidays - New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve.

• Fire shift personnel shall receive additional pay for hours actually worked on holidays at a straight-time rate. Twelve (12) hours of personal time off for each holiday which falls on a scheduled day off as well as for each of any undesignated holidays shall also be received by fire shift personnel.
• Police shift will additionally receive President's Day, Easter Sunday, Columbus Day, and Veteran's Day. Police shift personnel will receive additional eight (8) hours holiday pay at their straight-time hourly rate whether the holiday is worked or not.
• Public Safety Communications Shift Supervisors - Public safety communications shift supervisors who are scheduled to and actually work on a holiday shall receive one hour of holiday pay at his or her straight time hourly rate of pay for each hour actually worked on a holiday not to exceed twelve hours of holiday pay for a holiday. A telecommunications supervisor who does not work the holiday will receive eight hours of holiday pay at his or her straight time hourly rate of pay.

Personal Days - Three (3) personal days shall be provided per year but not including Fire shift personnel. Employees commencing employment between January 1 and June 30 in a year shall receive all three (3) personal days for such year. Employees commencing employment between July 1 and December 31 in a year shall receive one (1) personal day for such year. Employees in the Public Safety Communications Shift Supervisor position that are assigned to a 12-hour work day shall instead receive 36 hours of personal time if they commence employment between January 1 and June 30 in a year and 12 hours of personal time if commencing employment between July 1 and December 31 for such year.

Longevity Pay - Effective March 14, 2010, employees hired prior to January 1, 2010, shall receive as additional earnings annual longevity pay in the amount of an additional 4% of the employee's annual salary. Longevity pay shall be paid to employees in installments with each payroll. Employees hired on or after March 1, 2010, shall not be eligible for or receive longevity pay.

Sick Leave Conversion

Sworn Police Management - Sworn police management employees may accumulate sick leave up to a total maximum accrual of 241 sick days, which is equivalent to a maximum of 1,928 hours of sick leave time. In recognition of non-use of sick leave time, police management employees shall be eligible for a severance sick leave conversion payment upon separation from employment. Such severance payment shall be equivalent to twenty-five percent (25%) of the value of the employee's accumulated and unused sick leave as of the effective date of the employee's separation from employment and shall be paid to the employee in a lump sum, minus any applicable deductions. For the purposes of this section, the employee's hourly wage shall be equivalent to the employee's hourly wage rate inclusive of annual longevity pay paid to the employee, if any.

IMRF Employees - Upon retirement or leaving city employment in good standing, general employees may be eligible to convert accrued sick leave for severance pay. Employees with accrued sick leave of more than 720 hours may convert up to a maximum of 480 hours of sick leave for severance pay, provided the remaining balance of accrued sick leave does not total less than 720 hours. Such conversion shall be at the rate of 24 hours of sick leave for eight hours of severance pay, not to exceed 160 hours of severance pay.

Accrued sick leave applied by an employee for IMRF service credit shall not be eligible for sick leave conversion for severance pay. The provisions of this section shall not apply to police management employees.

Fire Pension Employees - Upon retirement or leaving city employment in good standing, fire pension-eligible employees may be eligible to convert accrued sick leave for severance pay. Employees with accrued sick leave of more than 1,080 hours may convert up to a maximum of 720 hours of sick leave for severance pay, provided the remaining balance of accrued sick leave does not total less than 1,080 hours. Such conversion shall be at the rate of thirty-six (36) hours of sick leave for twelve (12) hours of severance pay, not to exceed two hundred and forty hours (240) hours of severance pay.

Sick Leave Conversion For Vacation Leave - Accrued sick leave over 480 hours (60 days) (or over 720 hours (60-12 hour days) for fire shift employees) may be converted at the rate of three (3) days of sick leave for one (1) day of vacation leave. Such conversion is limited to a maximum of five (5) days of vacation leave (or 12-12 hour periods for fire shift employees) in any one calendar year. The minimum balance of sick leave after such conversion shall not be less than 60 days.

Medical Insurance

Comprehensive major medical insurance program for employee and dependents with employee option to continue coverage upon separation from employment according to one of the available coverage options. Effective March 1, 2010, for employees hired on or after March 1, 2010, the City will pay 80% of the specified premium for the coverage selected (i.e., single, single plus children, single plus spouse, or family) and the employee will pay via payroll deduction the remaining 20% of the specified premium. Employees who have alternative health insurance coverage may elect to discontinue to participate in the City's health insurance plan pursuant to the City's health insurance opt out program adopted pursuant to Resolution No. 05-38, as amended by Resolution No. 09-24. The opt out benefit to such employees shall be in the annual amount of $3,000 prorated based upon employment with the city during the applicable plan year and shall be paid at the employee's option either to a Health Reimbursement Account or in the form of additional compensation to the employee to be paid in a lump sum, less appropriate deductions, on the first check in December in the applicable plan year.

Paid Parental Leave</