NFPA's report on "Firefighter Fatalities in the United States"
Overall statistics on line-of-duty firefighter fatalities, 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

174

65

101

8

1979

126

58

58

10

1980

138

61

69

8

1981

136

58

65

13

1982

128

51

67

10

1983

114

54

52

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

80

22

55

3

1994

106

35

38

33

1995

98

30

59

9

1996

96

27

65

4

1997

99

31

59

9

1998

91

33

49

9

1999

114

39

71

4

2000

104

29

58

17

2001

443**

365**

66

12

2002

98

29

51

18

2003

107

27

58

22

2004

104

28

64

12

2005

87

25

54

8

2006

90

23

47

20

2007

106

43

55

8

2008

106

27

61

18

2009

82

31

41

10

2010

73

25

45

3

2011

61

21

35

5

2012

64

23

30

11

           2013 98 26 41 31
           2014
64 23 34 7
 2015 68 24 32 12
 2016 69 19 39 11
 2017 60 21 32 7
 2018 65 25 35 5
 2019 48 20 25 3

*Non-municipal firefighters are those who are not employed by local, public fire departments. They can be full-time, paid firefighters, or not. The 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.

Source: Firefighter Fatalities in the United States, Rita F. Fahy and Joseph L. Molis, NFPA, June 2019 and previous reports in the series.

Updated 6/20