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National Fire Department Registry Quick Facts

Registry last updated: Feb. 25, 2021

The purpose of the registry is to create a national database for use by the fire protection and prevention communities, allied professions, the general public and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). USFA uses the database to conduct special studies, guide program decisionmaking, and to improve direct communication with individual fire departments.

Fire departments registered

There are 27,223 fire departments listed with the National Fire Department Registry. This is about 92 percent of all U.S. fire departments. Registration for the list is voluntary.

Estimated
92%
of fire departments are listed in the registry

Fire departments by region

The majority of the registered departments are located in the Southern and Midwestern states. The map shows the percentage distribution of fire departments by U.S. Census Bureau Region. Less than 1 percent of the registered fire departments are located in U.S. territories.

Percentage of registered fire departments by region 1
South 36%
Midwest 31%
Northeast 21%
West 13%
Fire departments by region 13% 31% 36% 21%

Number of registered fire departments by state and territories

There are 11 registered fire departments in U.S. territories.

Total number of registered fire departments by state and territories: 27,223

Stations

  • Sixty-eight percent of the departments have one station.
  • Seventeen percent have two stations.
  • Fifteen percent have three or more stations.

Registered fire departments represent approximately 51,818 fire stations across the country. 2

Organization type

  • Ninety-six percent of the registered departments are local fire departments which include career, combination and volunteer fire departments and fire districts.
  • Four percent of the registered departments are state and federal government fire departments, contract fire departments, private or industrial fire brigades, and transportation authority or airport fire departments.

Personnel

  • Registered fire departments are staffed by approximately 1,217,300 personnel. 3 This includes career, volunteer and paid per call firefighters as well as civilian staff and nonfirefighting personnel.
  • There were a total of 1,064,700 active career, volunteer and paid per call firefighters representing nearly 87 percent of the registered departments' personnel.
  • Of the active firefighting personnel, 34 percent were career firefighters, 54 percent were volunteer firefighters, and 12 percent were paid per call firefighters.

Department type

Of the fire departments registered: 4, 5

  • Nine percent are career.
  • Five percent are mostly career.
  • Sixteen percent are mostly volunteer.
  • Seventy percent are volunteer.

Department type by state

Percentage of registered volunteer and mostly volunteer fire departments, top five states by rank

98.3%
Delaware

97.2%
Minnesota

96.8%
Pennsylvania

96.6%
South Dakota

96.6%
North Dakota

Percentage of registered career and mostly career fire departments, top five states by rank

100.0%
District of Columbia

91.7%
Hawaii

53.5%
Florida

45.6%
Arizona

44.9%
Massachusetts

Percentage of fire departments registered by department type within each state 5

State totals may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
State Volunteer Mostly volunteer Mostly career Career
Total 70.4 15.8 4.7 9.1
Alabama 79.0 9.5 3.7 7.8
Alaska 58.7 29.7 1.3 10.3
Arizona 30.6 23.8 16.9 28.6
Arkansas 84.1 9.1 2.8 4.1
California 28.9 27.5 15.6 28.0
Colorado 45.8 28.5 10.0 15.7
Connecticut 61.3 22.2 4.4 12.1
Delaware 41.4 56.9 0.0 1.7
District of Columbia 0.0 0.0 33.3 66.7
Florida 34.8 11.6 15.7 37.8
Georgia 49.7 22.8 9.9 17.6
Hawaii 8.3 0.0 16.7 75.0
Idaho 56.6 31.6 3.6 8.2
Illinois 66.0 14.5 6.3 13.2
Indiana 74.1 14.2 2.6 9.0
Iowa 89.7 6.1 0.9 3.3
Kansas 79.4 10.5 4.0 6.1
Kentucky 76.2 14.4 4.0 5.4
Louisiana 49.2 36.1 5.4 9.4
Maine 71.8 22.6 2.7 3.0
Maryland 60.5 28.7 4.2 6.5
Massachusetts 25.6 29.5 16.3 28.7
Michigan 63.9 22.9 4.0 9.2
Minnesota 86.9 10.3 0.8 1.9
Mississippi 71.1 15.4 3.9 9.6
Missouri 72.5 12.2 5.8 9.5
Montana 83.6 9.6 2.1 4.6
Nebraska 92.0 4.1 1.0 2.8
Nevada 54.7 25.6 8.1 11.6
New Hampshire 52.8 33.0 9.4 4.7
New Jersey 75.8 13.0 3.6 7.6
New Mexico 78.5 10.1 2.4 8.9
New York 90.2 4.1 1.5 4.2
North Carolina 62.9 28.2 4.4 4.5
North Dakota 92.3 4.3 0.3 3.1
Ohio 60.7 21.2 5.5 12.6
Oklahoma 81.6 10.0 2.3 6.1
Oregon 44.0 46.3 3.6 6.2
Pennsylvania 90.2 6.6 0.7 2.5
Rhode Island 38.2 23.5 2.9 35.3
South Carolina 53.0 24.8 12.9 9.3
South Dakota 91.8 4.8 0.3 3.1
Tennessee 73.6 13.6 4.6 8.2
Texas 70.0 11.9 6.6 11.5
Utah 65.4 20.9 4.7 8.9
Vermont 87.7 7.9 3.0 1.5
Virginia 70.8 17.4 4.9 6.9
Washington 39.7 38.2 10.5 11.7
West Virginia 90.6 4.9 1.2 3.2
Wisconsin 78.7 13.8 1.6 5.9
Wyoming 70.8 18.6 0.9 9.7
U.S. territories 9.1 0.0 18.2 72.7

Specialized services

Percentage of registered fire departments providing specialized services

Specialized service provided Percentage
Vehicle extrication 77.4
Fire/Injury prevention/Public education 63.7
Wildfire/Wildland Urban Interface 62.9
Basic Life Support 59.7
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) nontransport response 39.6
Technical/Specialized rescue 35.6
Fire investigation/Fire cause determination 6 35.3
Fire inspection/Code enforcement 34.9
Departmental (in-house) training academy 21.8
Advanced Life Support 21.2
EMS ambulance transport 21.0
Hazardous materials team 17.9
Juvenile firesetter intervention program 13.7
Airport/Aviation 8.0
Fireboat 4.7

Annual Registry snapshots