What Disqualifies You From Denton Fire, From the Published Rules

30-second answer. Three published documents carry the bars: the city's exam notice, with its conditions of employment; the Meet and Confer agreement's hiring article; and the department's public hiring-instructions page. Read together: age outside 18 through 35 on exam day; a felony conviction, or misdemeanors "of such a number that would indicate a habitual law violator"; failing the medical examination, including normal colour vision and vision correctable to 20/20 in both eyes; failing the background check, the drug screen, the polygraph, the physical ability test or the psychological test; not holding a Class B Texas driver's licence or approved equivalent within a year of hire; not holding the certifications at hire; a written score under 70, or under 70 at the oral board or the chief's interview; and any discrepancy between your NEOGOV application, your Personal History Statement and your polygraph, which the department may treat as deception. Whatever the reason, the agreement requires it in writing.

On exam day

Section 143.023 of the Local Government Code: at least 18 and not yet 36 to sit the exam, and not yet 36 to be certified to the list. The 2025 notice enforces it at the door: anyone who has reached their 36th birthday on the date of the exam is not admitted. The age guide covers how the clock is read. The same section requires the ability to read, write and speak English. A written grade below 70 ends the cycle; the agreement sets the passing grade at seventy.

Conditions of employment, from the notice

The January 2025 notice lists them, and the pattern holds cycle to cycle:

• No felony convictions, and no misdemeanor convictions of such a number that they would indicate a habitual law violator.
• A valid Class B Texas driver's licence, or approved state equivalent, within one year.
• A medical examination indicating fitness for duty, with normal colour vision and vision in both eyes correctable to 20/20.
• A criminal history background check and drug screen before employment.
• A polygraph examination.
• A physical ability test and a psychological test.
• One of the two certification doors on the date of hire: TCFP basic structure fire protection certification plus a DSHS EMT-Basic, or a DSHS paramedic certification.

In the process

The agreement adds the scored gates. Background packets go to the highest scores; failing background ends it. Up to thirty of the highest-ranked who pass background take the physical ability test; failing it ends it. The oral interview board scores zero to one hundred and a score under seventy disqualifies; the chief's interview does the same. All applicants may be subject to a polygraph at the department head's discretion.

The department's hiring-instructions page adds the integrity rule in its own words: "Any discrepancies between your NEOGOV application, PHS, and Polygraph may be determined as deception and cause for disqualification." It also sets a strict deadline for the Personal History Statement and lists the documents that must be attached; failure to provide them results in disqualification. Certifications must be viewable on the state commission's and DSHS's public lookups by the conditional job offer. The PHS guide covers the packet.

The written-reason rule

Section 10 of the hiring article: if an applicant is disqualified at any point, the department head "shall clearly set forth in writing the good and sufficient reason why a person was disqualified." You are entitled to know why.

What the published documents do not say

They do not publish a driving-record standard, a credit standard, a tattoo policy or a list of disqualifying drug history beyond the drug screen. Texas departments often hold such standards inside the background guidelines rather than on a public page, and Denton's agreement refers to "the Department's Hiring Guidelines" without publishing them. If one of those is your question, it belongs on the Personal History Statement and, if you want the answer earlier, in an email to the department's recruiting mailbox, which the exam notice lists. Do not guess and do not omit; the deception rule is the one bar you control completely.