Department profile

VolunteerEMS Provider

Essex Fire Department

Essex, MA · Essex County. Essex Fire Department is a Volunteer department, 1 station and 48 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.

48
Total personnel
1
Stations
Not reported
Fire trucks
Yes
EMS service

The verdict

Essex Fire Department pairs top-quartile national personnel with a headcount above the Massachusetts average.

Top 19%
national personnel size
+37%
vs. Massachusetts average
1
station
$204,000
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
46/100
Essex 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 A
48 personnel per station (national median 23.5)
Equipment readiness D
1 vehicles per station (national median 2)
EMS integration
No EMS staffing breakdown on file
Federal investment F
$4,250 in AFG grant funding per staff member (national median $11,875, among departments with a grant on file)
48 personnel · 1 station

Essex Fire Department is a Volunteer department serving Essex, MA (Essex County), with 1 station and 48 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #4,265 of 22,440. Cumulative FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record: $204,000.

  • National personnel rank #4,265 of 22,440
  • MA personnel rank #123 of 326
  • 2.08 stations per 100 personnel
  • EMS provider (HIFLD)
  • 47 other listed departments in Essex County

Essex Fire Department vs. the national personnel distribution

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

48 Top 19% higher than 81% 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 09092 · Essex Fire Department, MA 48 personnel · 1 station

PERS-SMALL · STA-1 · TYPE-VOL · EMS-Y · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · FEMA-LIGHT · BOOK-FULL

  • PERS-SMALL 48
  • STA-1 1 station
  • TYPE-VOL Volunteer
  • EMS-Y EMS on file
  • RANK-UPPER #4,265
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Henderson
  • FEMA-LIGHT $204K
  • BOOK-FULL 5/5 fields

Nearest personnel peer: Henderson Fire Department, NC (+ 0 personnel)

Volunteer 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 MA department.

Department Profile

Type
VOLUNTEER
Location
Essex, MA
FDID
09092

FEMA Grant History

$204K
Cumulative funding (FY2021)
1
Awards
Year Award Amount
2021 EMW-2021-FG-10579 $204,000

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

Staffing vs the Massachusetts average

How Essex Fire Department's personnel count compares to the typical department in Massachusetts. In-state it ranks #123 of 326 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #4,265 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.

▲ 37% above the state average
Stations
1
State fire deaths/yr
51
MA departments
568

County roster fringe

Essex Fire Department is 2.4% of Essex County roster mass

The county lists 55 departments totaling 1,997 personnel, so this roster is a small slice; 80% of county departments show EMS coverage. County / state rollup.

2.08 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (1 station / 48 roster).

Photo-finish peer: Henderson Fire Department, NC (+0 personnel).

Nationwide volunteer peers near 48 personnel

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