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