Juan Covarrubias

Born and raised in the Little Village neighborhood, Juan F. Covarrubias’s life passion is to give back to the communities of Chicago. As a bilingual firefighter, he has used his Spanish to communicate with patients and provide medical care. He has also instructed Fire and Life Safety education to local schools and sports organizations.

Over his seventeen-year career, Juan has been assigned to the busiest Basic Life Support (BLS) companies in the city, he is a highly regarded professional and dedicated worker among his peers. Juan is presently assigned to Engine 18 as the Engineer in Pilsen.

As the Lead instructor, he is ambitious about teaching the fire academy goals for candidates to pass the state firefighter II exam. He uses his knowledge of the department policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and protocols, along with his fire experience and community relations to teach and mentor candidates. One of his favorite classes is Firefighter Survival, where he gets the opportunity to tell his story as a cancer survivor.

Juan’s biggest blessing was to beat cancer and be cancer-free. He was nominated for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), Man of the Year Award 2021, a 10-week fundraising challenge in Illinois and raised of over $900,000 dollars for cancer research with a team of 15 nominees. For his fundraising planning and community outreach, he was awarded the Citizenship Award for Mission Integration.

Alumni to the University of Chicago - Graham School, with a Master’s in Threat and Response Management, GPA 3.9. Alumnus from Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's in Public Safety Management.