Cuenca announces the vacancy for Chief of the Fire Service via internal promotion

The Local Government Board of the Cuenca City Council, in an ordinary session held on July 21, 2026, approved the bases for the permanent filling of one position as Chief Officer of the Fire and Civil Protection Service, through a competitive examination system via internal promotion. The call for applications is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Cuenca, number 101, dated September 2, 2026, under number 2082.

The position, vacant within the city council’s civil service staff, is included in the 2025 Public Employment Offer and corresponds to position 16.BOM.1 of the job classification list. It belongs to the Special Administration Scale, Special Services Subscale, Fire Prevention and Extinction Service Class, Group A, Subgroup A1, and will be endowed with the remuneration specific to that group, destination supplement, triennials, and extraordinary payments.

Applicant Requirements

To be admitted, candidates must meet the requirements demanded in the second base of the call as of the date of the deadline for submitting applications:

• Be a Spanish national, without prejudice to the access of nationals of other States provided for in article 57.2 of Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015.
• Be at least sixteen years of age and not exceed the maximum compulsory retirement age.
• Hold a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, in accordance with Royal Decree 822/2021.
• Not suffer from any illness or impediment that prevents the performance of the duties of the position, nor be included in the medical exclusion list of Annex V.
• Not have been dismissed from service nor be disqualified from public functions.
• Hold driving licenses of classes “B”, “C” with associated “E” or equivalent.
• Hold the status of career civil servant of the Fire Department of the Cuenca City Council, Subgroup A2, with at least two years of effective service in the category.

Applications and Selection Process

Applications shall be submitted to the General Registry of the Cuenca City Council or through the means specified in article 16.4 of Law 39/2015, within a period of twenty business days counting from the day following the publication of the summary in the Official State Gazette. Examination fees amount to 29.56 euros, in accordance with Ordinance number 30, and shall be paid into the Unicaja account number ES0920483647063400001474.

The process consists of two phases: the competitive examination, which is preliminary and eliminatory, and the merit competition. The final grade is obtained by weighting the examination phase at 60 percent and the merit phase at 40 percent. The examination phase comprises four exercises:

• First exercise: multiple-choice questionnaire of 100 questions plus five reserve questions, with a duration of 90 minutes and a minimum of 50 points out of 100.
• Second exercise: written development of five randomly selected topics, in a maximum of five hours.
• Third exercise: technical practical case of 60 minutes, involving the reading and interpretation of plans and regulatory analysis.
• Fourth exercise: physical tests consisting of 50-meter swimming, pull-ups, lifting 30 kilograms, a 300-meter run, and a 2,000-meter run, with possible anti-doping controls.

Competition phase and tribunal

In the competition phase, merits accredited as of the application deadline date will be valued, with a maximum of 50 points for effective service, up to 13 points for training courses, and up to 10 points for official academic qualifications. The Qualifying Tribunal, appointed by Decree of the Personnel Department, will be composed of a president and four members, one of whom will act as secretary, and will hold the first category for the purposes of indemnities.

The call, which concludes the administrative route, may be appealed for reversal before the Local Government Board within one month or directly via contentious-administrative proceedings before the Contentious-Administrative Court of Cuenca within two months.

Filling this leadership position is key to the security of the capital, as it falls upon a command post of the fire prevention, extinction, and civil protection service. Since it is processed through internal promotion, the call recognizes the trajectory of the firefighters of the corps itself, who must accredit at least two years of service to opt to lead the service.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Cuenca, no. 101, September 2, 2026, Local Administration, page 9 (official reference: no. 2082).