Firefighters open applications to elect a member of their Board of Directors

The Electoral Tribunal of the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica (Costa Rica Fire Department) has opened the process for receiving applications to run for a position as a member of the institution’s Board of Directors. The call for applications was published in La Gaceta No. 198 on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, and will be in effect from October 29 to November 10, 2026, with 4:00 p.m. as the deadline for registering candidacies and documentation.

The notice is based on Article 50 of the Regulations of Law No. 8228, issued via Executive Decree No. 37615-MP, and appears in the notices section of the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica under official reference IN202601133738. The insertion is for a single publication and is signed by Gabriel Delgado Ramírez, president of the Electoral Tribunal.

From October 29 to November 10: the registration calendar

Interested parties must submit their application in accordance with the requirements and procedures established in the current regulations, according to the official text. The Electoral Tribunal has set the following conditions:

• Opening of the receipt of applications: October 29, 2026.
• Deadline for the receipt of registrations and documentation: November 10, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.
• Channel for inquiries regarding the registration process: the email address tribunalelectoralbcb@bomberos.go.cr.
• Publication modality: a single time in the official gazette.

The published text does not detail the number of vacancies to be filled nor the term of the appointment; for both matters, it refers to the regulations governing the process.

The convening body and the regulatory framework

The call is made by the Electoral Tribunal of the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica, the body that had already communicated other stages of the institution’s electoral calendar earlier this year. The regulatory basis is the Regulations of Law No. 8228, the norm that organizes the government of the fire department and was issued under Executive Decree No. 37615-MP.

Article 50 of those regulations is the specific basis invoked to open the receipt of applications for the Board of Directors, the governing body whose composition is renewed through this process.

Background: an election already finalized

On September 16, 2026, in La Gaceta No. 174, the same Electoral Tribunal reported—under reference IN202601119304—that as of August 18, 2026, the electoral process had become final, through which the officials of the Fire Department, gathered in the National Assembly of Representatives, elected Juan Diego Castro Fernández as the organization’s representative to the Board of Directors of the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Costa Rica.

That precedent confirms that the composition of the Board of Directors is defined by two parallel routes: the representation chosen by the National Assembly of Representatives and the positions filled through a competitive application process, such as the one now opening.

Why this call for applications matters

The Board of Directors is not a symbolic body: it is the organ that approves the institution’s technical regulations. The National Fire Protection Regulation, for example, has been in effect since its approval by that Board of Directors in session No. 0163 on October 29, 2020, as recorded in Scope No. 113 of August 26, 2026.

Hence, the position being contested in November has a direct effect on the human safety and property protection rules applied to buildings, businesses, and productive activities throughout the country. For the body’s officials, furthermore, the competition is the formal way to influence the leadership of their own institution.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 198 of October 20, 2026, Notices section, p. 55 (official reference: IN202601133738).