Carbondale Reporter

House Rep. Patrick Windhorst expressed his support to regulate who can become a fire chief, as he worries that arsonists may join.

That’s where House Bill 5693 comes into play.

“Local fire departments deserve to know the person applying to fight fires isn’t a person that has been convicted of intentionally starting fires, whether that person has paid their debt to society or not,” Windhorst said. “Requiring applicants to disclose their relevant criminal history as a part of the application process to become a firefighter just makes good old plain common sense. Let us take a step back from allowing and inviting the absurdly we’ve seen by supporting this legislation that increases transparency and gives local fire departments the tools they need to ensure they are hiring (qualified) individuals to provide critical public services.”

This opinion came after Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pardon of Jerame Simmons, who was convicted for “setting fire to a vacant house and attempting to burn down his high school.” Simmons' pardon by the governor garnered mixed feelings.

“If you plead guilty, you’re admitting, ‘Yeah, I did that.’ You plead guilty to arson, and then you become fire chief,” Rep. Mark Luft said to FOX 32 Chicago. “It absolutely floors me that this can happen. Pritzker’s pardon is a slap in the face to all the honest, hardworking firefighters throughout our state who put themselves in harm's way every day.”

Simmons became chief for the Prairie Du Pont Fire Department thanks to Pritzker.

“This is a nightmare I play through my head a lot,” Simmons wrote in his petition to receive a pardon. “If I had a chance to change anything in my life, it would be the month of January and February the year of 1998. Those two months have put my whole life upside-down regarding any career that I wished to have in any full-time job in public safety.”

The bill was introduced on Feb. 15 by Rep. David Friess, and is co-sponsored by Luft and Windhorst.

The bill is effective immediately upon passage.