CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780)  -- The Chicago Fire Department gives an entrance exam Thursday and Friday for new firefighter hopefuls. 25,000 people have signed up to take the exam, being given at McCormick Place.

This is Chicago's first firefighters entrance exam in more than a decade

The exam is the first in the department's history for firefighter/emergency medical technician. The department spends two-thirds of its time answering non-fire calls.

Starting salary for firefighters is $44,838. Mandatory qualifications for applicants are: they must be at least 19 at time of exam, have a high school diploma or GED, live in Chicago and be under age 35 at time of appointment.

Benefits are 24 hours on and 48 hours off; a raise after six months; tuition reimbursements and generous health and pension benefits.

The exam is pass-fail with successful candidates lumped into a giant pool and picked randomly for interviews, background checks and agility testing.

The 5,000-plus-member Fire Department is 67.4 percent white, 20.1 percent black and 10.4 percent Hispanic.

The last time Chicago held a firefighters entrance exam, it was mired in controversy.

In 2005, a federal judge ruled that the city's handling of the 1995 exam discriminated against African Americans.

The 5,000-member Fire Department currently 67 percent white, 20 percent black and 10 percent Hispanic.