How well is your fire department equipped?
Coverage, response capacity, equipment inventories and federal grant histories for 38,518 US departments, drawn from HIFLD station records, USFA national fire statistics, and FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant awards.
Searchable directory of 38k+ US fire depts from HIFLD data with state/county rankings, USFA fire stats, and safety guides.
- Fire departments
- 38,518
- States & DC
- 51
- Personnel on record
- 1,024,831
- Counties covered
- 3,168
How US Wildfires Concentrate Damage
A small share of the largest wildfires accounts for the majority of acres burned each year. NIFC fire-size classes paired with NWCG severity bands.
NIFC Fire Size Classes vs Acres Burned
Share of total acres burned in a typical season, by fire size class
Mega-fires (100K+ acres) are about 2% of incidents but burn roughly 65% of all acres in a typical season.
What the federal data reveals
Patterns computed live across 38,518 departments, 50 states, and national USFA fire statistics.
Largest Fire Departments by Personnel
View all rankingsLeading Causes of Fires
Source: USFA/NFPABased on USFA national fire incident data. Percentages are approximate.
States: Highest Annual Fire Deaths
Most Volunteer Fire Departments
Fire Safety Guides
Data-driven fire safety education from federal USFA and HIFLD sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does PlainFireData get its data?
Data comes from two federal sources: HIFLD (Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data) for fire station locations and department details, and USFA (U.S. Fire Administration) for state-level fire statistics and trends.
How many fire departments does PlainFireData cover?
PlainFireData tracks 38,518 fire departments across 3,168 county-equivalent jurisdictions (the US has 3,143 counties; the additional 25 entries cover Census-recognized boroughs in Alaska and parishes in Louisiana plus other Census subdivisions) and all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The database covers career, volunteer, and combination departments.
Is PlainFireData free?
Yes, PlainFireData is completely free. You can look up fire department data, compare counties, and browse state-level statistics without any account or payment.
What is the difference between career and volunteer departments?
Career departments employ full-time paid firefighters, volunteer departments rely on unpaid volunteers, and combination departments use a mix of both. PlainFireData shows the department type for each station in the database.
Guides & Analysis
Editorial research and plain-language explainers from our team. Every guide is written to help you read the underlying public data correctly.
Research
Original analysis from our editorial team, every statistic derived from our own database. See all research.
Top States by Fire Department Personnel
A live NFIRS rollup ranking states by total fire-service workforce across career, volunteer, and combination departments, rendered from the state_stats table at request time.
ResearchStates That Rely Most on Volunteer Departments
Which states have the highest share of primarily-volunteer fire departments, and how that tracks with rural geography, a live ranking from the state_stats table.
ResearchFire Departments per Capita by State
Department density adjusted for population (departments per 100,000 residents), using HIFLD counts and 2023 US Census population, rural states lead, dense states trail.
About this data
How PlainFireData works, and why you can trust these numbers
What this site is
PlainFireData is a plain-language reference for U.S. fire department staffing, capabilities, and coverage. We turn HIFLD fire-station infrastructure data, USFA/NFIRS national fire statistics, and FEMA firefighter grant records into a searchable database of 38,518 departments, with every figure traceable to its issuing federal agency.
Editorial process
- Source. Pull fire-station records directly from the HIFLD (DHS/CISA) Open Data set, state-level fire statistics from USFA/NFIRS, and grant records from the OpenFEMA portal.
- Verify. Station locations, personnel counts, and equipment inventories are presented as reported by participating agencies; missing data is shown as unavailable, never estimated or interpolated.
- Publish. Compile per-department profiles evaluated against NFPA staffing and apparatus standards, linking back to the issuing federal agency so readers can audit our record against the original source.
Editorial independence & corrections
The PlainFireData editorial team is independent and is not affiliated with DHS, CISA, USFA, FEMA, or any government agency. Found an error or a stale record? File a correction via the contact page. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
Frequently asked
Where does PlainFireData get its data?
Data comes from two federal sources: HIFLD (Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data) for fire station locations and department details, and USFA (U.S. Fire Administration) for state-level fire statistics and trends.
How many fire departments does PlainFireData cover?
PlainFireData tracks 38,518 fire departments across 3,168 county-equivalent jurisdictions (the US has 3,143 counties; the additional 25 entries cover Census-recognized boroughs in Alaska and parishes in Louisiana plus other Census subdivisions) and all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The database covers career, volunteer, and combination departments.
Is PlainFireData free?
Yes, PlainFireData is completely free. You can look up fire department data, compare counties, and browse state-level statistics without any account or payment.
What is the difference between career and volunteer departments?
Career departments employ full-time paid firefighters, volunteer departments rely on unpaid volunteers, and combination departments use a mix of both. PlainFireData shows the department type for each station in the database.