Department profile

Career (Paid)EMS Provider

Bellingham Fire Department

Bellingham, WA · Whatcom County. Bellingham Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department, 8 stations and 149 total personnel. The department also provides EMS services. According to the HIFLD fire-station federal registry (as of 2026-09), full equipment, coverage, and staffing data are below.

149
Total personnel
8
Stations
Not reported
Fire trucks
Yes
EMS service

The verdict

Bellingham Fire Department pairs top-5% national personnel with a headcount more than double the Washington average.

Top 2%
national personnel size
+303%
vs. Washington average
8
stations
$2,194,875
FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record

National percentile ranks this department's personnel headcount against every listable U.S. department with reported staffing; the state comparison uses the same personnel figure against its own state's average. Both feed the verdict sentence and the chips above.

C
PlainFireData Composite Score
43/100
Bellingham Fire Department

A staffing, equipment, EMS-integration, and federal-grant-funding composite benchmarked against every other USFA-registered department nationally, not a safety rating, response-time measure, or comparison of fire risk. Dimensions with no data on file are excluded and their weight redistributed, never counted as zero.

Staffing capacity D
18.6 personnel per station (national median 23.5)
Equipment readiness
No vehicle count on file for this department
EMS integration
No EMS staffing breakdown on file
Federal investment C
$14,731 in AFG grant funding per staff member (national median $11,875, among departments with a grant on file)
149 personnel · 8 stations

Bellingham Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department serving Bellingham, WA (Whatcom County), with 8 stations and 149 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #422 of 22,440. Cumulative FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record: $2,194,875.

  • National personnel rank #422 of 22,440
  • WA personnel rank #10 of 120
  • 5.37 stations per 100 personnel
  • EMS provider (HIFLD)
  • 3 other listed departments in Whatcom County

Bellingham Fire Department vs. the national personnel distribution

Where this department's HIFLD-reported staffing sits among every listable U.S. fire department

149 Top 2% higher than 98% of 22,440 departments

Listable U.S. fire departments, banded by total personnel

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more departments. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source HIFLD fire-station registry · 2026-09-06

Dispatch plate

Sheet 37M01 · Bellingham Fire Department, WA 149 personnel · 8 stations

PERS-MID · STA-MULTI · TYPE-CAREER · EMS-Y · RANK-TOP · PHOTO-FINISH · FEMA-MID · BOOK-FULL

  • PERS-MID 149
  • STA-MULTI 8 stations
  • TYPE-CAREER Career
  • EMS-Y EMS on file
  • RANK-TOP #422
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Magnolia Voluntee…
  • FEMA-MID $2.2M
  • BOOK-FULL 5/5 fields

Nearest personnel peer: Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department - First Responders, TX (+ 0 personnel)

Career/paid HIFLD roster counts, station rows, EMS flag, listable personnel rank, photo-finish peer, and FEMA AFG/SAFER book for this FDID, not a readiness rating.

Personnel neighbourhood

Nationwide HIFLD headcount poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every WA department.

Department Profile

Type
MAINLY PAID PROVIDERS
Location
Bellingham, WA
FDID
37M01

FEMA Grant History

$2.2M
Cumulative funding (FY2009–2019)
4
Awards
Year Award Amount
2019 EMW-2019-FG-07940 $707,186
2017 EMW-2017-FO-04744 $566,919
2010 EMW2009FH00193 $-415,880
2009 EMW-2009-FH-0019 $1,336,650

Source: USAspending.gov (CFDA 97.044 AFG / 97.083 SAFER)

Staffing vs the Washington average

How Bellingham Fire Department's personnel count compares to the typical department in Washington. In-state it ranks #10 of 120 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #422 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.

▲ 303% above the state average
Stations
8
State fire deaths/yr
68
WA departments
483

County staffing outlier

Career (Paid) island in a volunteer-heavy Whatcom County

County mix is mostly volunteer (8 volunteer / 1 career / 0 combination), while this page is typed career. County / state rollup.

5.37 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (8 stations / 149 roster).

Photo-finish peer: Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department - First Responders, TX (+0 personnel).

Nearby Departments

Lynden Fire Department
Lynden · volunteer
All WA departments →

Nationwide career peers near 149 personnel

Photo-finish and same-type HIFLD neighbours for this FDID, not a reprint of every WA department.

Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department - First Responders, TX 149 Pawtucket Fire Department, RI 149 Miramar Fire Rescue, FL 149 Klein Volunteer Fire Department, TX 150 Schaumburg Fire Department, IL 148 Hoover Fire Department, AL 150 Hamden Fire Department, CT 150 Delray Beach Fire Rescue, FL 148

Frequently Asked Questions

How many firefighters does Bellingham Fire Department have?

Bellingham Fire Department has 149 total personnel according to HIFLD data. This is 303% above the Washington average of 37 per department. Among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel, it ranks #422 of 22,440 by total personnel (same basis as the largest-departments ranking). Within WA, it ranks #10 of 120 by personnel.

Does Bellingham Fire Department provide EMS services?

Yes, Bellingham Fire Department provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in addition to fire response.

How many fire stations does Bellingham Fire Department operate?

Bellingham Fire Department operates 8 fire stations.

What type of fire department is Bellingham Fire Department?

Bellingham Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department serving Whatcom County, WA. Career departments employ full-time paid firefighters.

Has Bellingham Fire Department received federal grants?

Yes, Bellingham Fire Department has received 4 FEMA grants totaling $2,194,875 in cumulative AFG and SAFER awards across FY2009–2019 (sum of all recorded award years, not a single-year figure). The most recent award year in our extract is FY2019.

How many fire departments are in Washington?

Washington has 483 fire departments with 17,908 total personnel. 58% are volunteer departments.

Related guides

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Verify with USFA/FEMA →

HIFLD/USFA registry extract, informational only, not a readiness rating.