Employees qualify for membership in the Firefighters' Retirement System if their employment normally requires an average of 2,080 hours of regularly scheduled employment per year in a regularly constituted fire department. Employees must be trained in firefighter techniques and be assigned to a position of hazardous duty.

If employees are not trained in firefighter techniques or they are not assigned to a position of hazardous duty, based on employer participation, they must be enrolled in either the Public Employees' Contributory or Noncontributory Retirement System as long as eligibility requirements are met.

Volunteer firefighters do not contribute to the system and are not eligible for service retirement benefits.