Report: NFPA's "U.S. Fire Department Profile"
Author: Hylton J. G. Haynes and Gary P. Stein
Issued: April 2017
*Errata issued May 26, 2017.
Key findings
NFPA estimates there were approximately 1,160,450 local firefighters in the U.S. in 2015. Of the total number of firefighters 345,600 (30%) were career firefighters and 814,850 (70%) were volunteer firefighters.
Most of the career firefighters (71%) worked in communities that protected 25,000 or more people. Most of the volunteer firefighters (95%) were in departments that protected fewer than 25,000 people. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of volunteer firefighters have more than 5 years of service. There are an estimated 29,727 fire departments in the U.S. Of these, 2,651 departments were all career, 1,893 were mostly career, 5,421 were mostly volunteer and 19,762 were all volunteer. In the U.S., 13,500 departments provided EMS with basic life support, 4,617 departments provided EMS with advanced life support and 11,610 departments did not provide EMS.
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