The U.S. fire service

Firefighter deaths (U.S. fire service)

All visitors: NFPA's report on "Firefighter Fatalities in the United States" July 2009 (PDF, 205 KB)
Overall statistics on line-of-duty firefighter fatalities in 2008, including non-incident-related deaths. Includes patterns, trends, career vs. volunteer comparisons, and brief narratives on selected incidents.

Year	Total	Career	Volunteer	Non-municipal*
1977	157	70	82	5
1978	173	64	101	8
1979	125	58	57	10
1980	138	61	69	8
1981	136	58	65	13
1982	128	51	67	10
1983	113	54	51	8
1984	119	43	59	17
1985	128	55	66	7
1986	119	50	55	14
1987	132	49	68	15
1988	136	43	81	12
1989	118	43	65	10
1990	108	26	62	20
1991	108	36	66	6
1992	75	24	44	7
1993	79	21	55	3
1994	105	34	38	33
1995	98	30	59	9
1996	96	27	65	4
1997	99	31	59	9
1998	91	33	49	9
1999	112	37	71	4
2000	103	28	58	17
2001	443**	365**	66	12
2002	97	29	50	18
2003	106	26	58	22
2004	105	29	65	11
2005	87	25	54	8
2006	89	23	46	20
2007	103	42	53	8
2008	104	27	59	18

Source: NFPA's "Firefighter Fatalities in the United States 2008," Rita F. Fahy, Paul R. LeBlanc and Joseph L. Molis, July 2009, firefighter fatality figures have been updated since publication, and previous reports in the series.

Career firefighters include full-time uniform firefighters regardless of assignment (i.e. suppression, administrative, prevention/inspection, etc.). Career firefighters do not include firefighters who work for the state or federal government or in private fire brigades. Volunteer firefighters include any active part-time (call or volunteer) firefighters.

* Non-municipal firefighters are those who are not employed by local, public fire departments. They can be full-time, paid firefighters, or not. They can include employees of forestry agencies, industrial fire brigades, the military, the federal government, prison crews, and impressed civilians.

** Includes 340 firefighters at the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001.

Update: 12/09

			Firefighters and fire departments

			Fire department calls

			Firefighting and fire prevention occupations by women and race

			Firefighter activities, injuries, and deaths

			Firefighter injuries by type of duty

			Firefighter fireground injuries by nature of injury

			Firefighter deaths

			Firefighter deaths by type of duty

			Firefighter deaths by cause and nature of injury