Fire Service

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NFPA Fact Sheets
Fire service

Also see:

U.S. Fire Department Profile
Michael J. Karter, November 2000.
This report includes statistics on numbers of fire stations, pumpers and ladders nationwide, rates of usage of such equipment by community size, numbers and characteristics of U.S. firefighters, and total national direct expenditures on local fire protection. Unpublished annual report.

NFPA members: Download this report for free. (PDF, 382 KB)
Non-members: See more information about this NFPA report.
Additional reports on U.S. firefighter injuries and fatalities.
Detailed fire service trend data.

There were 1,064,150 firefighters in the United States in 2000. Of these 286,800 were career (full-time) and 777,350 were volunteer.

Facts & Figures*

The majority of career firefighters are in communities that protect 25,000 or more people. More than half of all volunteer firefighters are with small, rural departments protecting fewer than 2,500 people.
A total of 102 firefighters were fatally injured while on duty in 2000. Of these, 28 were career firefighters, 57 were volunteer firefighters, and 17 were non-municipal firefighters (those not employed by local, public fire departments).
In 2000, 84,550 firefighters were injured in the line of duty. 43,065 of these injuries occurred on the fireground.

(* From NFPA's U.S. Fire Department Profile Through 2000, November 2001, by M.J. Karter, Jr.; 2000 U.S. Firefighter Fatalities, NFPA Journal, July/August 2001, by Rita Fahy and Paul R. LeBlanc; and U.S. Firefighter Injuries, NFPA Journal, November/December 2001, by Michael J. Karter, Jr. and Stephen G. Badger.)

Updated: 11/01

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