Arson convicts would be burned under a new proposal from Illinois lawmakers that would require firefighter candidates to disclose past fire-related crimes.
The bill, filed in the Illinois House on Wednesday, would require anyone applying to become a firefighter to disclose whether he or she was convicted of arson in the past. The measure follows the governor pardoning a convicted arsonist who then became a local fire chief, which led nearly a dozen firefighters to walk off the job in protest.
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A candidate to become a firefighter in Illinois “must disclose if he or she has been convicted, arrested, or charged with arson, aggravated arson, or criminal damage to property due to recklessly, by means of fire, damaging the property of another or knowingly starting a fire on the land of another,” the bill reads.
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If passed, the bill will amend the Illinois Municipal Code and the Fire Protection District Act with the required disclosure.
In December 2021, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker pardoned convicted arsonist Jerame Simmons. Simmons, who admitted to burning down a house and trying to burn down a school in 1998 despite most of his charges being dismissed or leading to only minor penalties, became fire chief of the Prairie Dupont Volunteer Fire Department weeks after the pardon.
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Eleven out of 13 firefighters at Prairie Dupont resigned from their posts, drawing national attention.
Illinois fire departments responded to 1,382,996 incidents in 2019 that resulted in $412 million in property damage, according to the most recently available statistics from the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
