Cape Girardeau Fire Department

Cape Girardeau Fire Department traces its roots to July 25, 1866, when the city council passed an ordinance establishing a volunteer hook-and-ladder company under Mayor G.H. Cramer. That original 25-member volunteer force, soon named the Good Intent Fire Company, operated hand-drawn hook-and-ladder equipment staged at strategic points around town before the city began funding a dedicated engine house and paid operations in the following years.

Today the department is a full-time career agency operating out of four fire stations plus an administrative annex, serving a city of more than 39,000 residents that swells to an estimated 60,000 daily visitors. Beyond structural firefighting, the department handles rescue operations, emergency medical response, and emergency management functions for the city, and maintains its own fire prevention and inspection programs.

The department describes its mission as protecting lives and property through a diverse team of professionals, and it recruits firefighters through a multi-stage hiring process combining written testing, physical ability testing, and oral interviews, alongside in-house Firefighter I & II certification training.

Firefighter candidates apply through the City of Cape Girardeau's online job application system, then proceed through department-administered testing before a hiring decision.