Fire Departments
- Estimated number of fire departments in 2008: 30,170
- Estimated number of stations in the United States for 2006-2008: 52,400
- A fire department responds to a fire in the United States every 22.0 seconds
- Fire department types*: Career (8%), Mostly Career (6%), Mostly Volunteer (16%), All Volunteer (70%)
- 14% of all departments are career or mostly career and protect 61% of the U.S. population
- 86% of fire departments are volunteer or mostly volunteer and protect 39% of the population
- There are an estimated 68,200 pumpers, 6,725 aerial apparatus, and 75,300 other suppression vehicles (including tankers, brush vehicles, pumpers less than 1,000 gpm, hose usage, etc.) in the United States for 2006-2008
The following table shows the estimated numbers of fire departments and the numbers of departments by department type in the United States from 1999 to 2008.
Year |
All Fire Departments |
All Career |
Mostly Career |
Mostly Volunteer |
All Volunteer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 |
30,436 |
1,752 |
1,639 |
4,651 |
22,394 |
2000 |
26,354 |
1,878 |
1,407 |
3,845 |
19,224 |
2001 |
30,020 |
1,928 |
1,539 |
4,671 |
21,882 |
2002 |
30,310 |
2,044 |
1,480 |
4,886 |
21,900 |
2003 |
30,542 |
2,018 |
1,582 |
5,271 |
21,671 |
2004 |
30,400 |
1,917 |
1,242 |
4,084 |
23,157 |
2005 |
30,330 |
2,087 |
1,766 |
4,902 |
21,575 |
2006 |
30,635 |
2,321 |
1,731 |
5,134 |
21,449 |
2007 |
30,185 |
2,263 |
1,765 |
4,989 |
21,168 |
2008 |
30,170 |
2,315 |
1,790 |
4,830 |
21,235 |
* Career=100% career firefighters, Mostly Career=51%-99% career firefighters, Mostly Volunteer=1%-50% career firefighters, Volunteer=100% volunteer firefighters
Response |
Number |
% Change from 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Fires | 1,451,500 |
-6.8 |
| Medical Aid | 15,767,500 |
-0.1 |
| False Alarms | 2,241,500 |
+1.5 |
| Mutual Aid/Assistance | 1,214,500 |
+9.5 |
| Hazmat | 394,500 |
-0.3 |
| Other Hazardous (Arcing wires, bomb removal, etc.) | 697,500 |
+1.6 |
| All Other (Smoke scares, lock-outs, etc.) | 3,485,500 |
-3.0 |
| TOTAL | 25,252,500 |
-0.3 |
Source: National Fire Protection Association reports Fire Loss in the United States 2008 and U.S. Fire Department Profile Through 2008
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Last Reviewed: November 12, 2009
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