53 Pa. Stat. § 23493
Each applicant for original appointment to a position in the competitive class in any bureau of fire in any city of the second class, or to the position of fire alarm operator or fire alarm box inspector in any such city, shall undergo a physical examination which shall be conducted by a commission composed of doctors of medicine appointed for that purpose by the mayor. Said commission shall certify to the Civil Service Commission that the applicant is free from bodily or mental defects, deformities or diseases that might incapacitate him from the performance of the duties of the position he is seeking. No application for such appointment shall be received from any person who is under eighteen years of age or over thirty-five years of age at the date of his application, except that an applicant for the position of fire alarm operator or fire alarm box inspector in any such city, may be over thirty-five years of age at the date of his application. Nor shall any such application be received from any person who shall not have been a bona fide resident of the city for one year next preceding the date of his application: Provided, however, That any applicant for reinstatement as a member of the bureau of fire or as a fire alarm operator or as a fire alarm box inspector of any such city in which he makes such application, who shall have served previously as an employe in such bureau for a period of more than six months and who, at the time of his application for reinstatement shall be a resident of such city, shall be eligible for such reinstatement even though such applicant shall be over the age of thirty-five years.
53 P.S. § 23493