Department profile

Career (Paid)EMS Provider

Houston Fire Department

Houston, TX · Harris County. Houston Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department, 88 stations and 3,815 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.

3,815
Total personnel
88
Stations
Not reported
Fire trucks
Yes
EMS service

The verdict

Houston Fire Department pairs top-1% national personnel with a headcount more than double the Texas average.

Top 1%
national personnel size
+11121%
vs. Texas average
88
stations
$20,598,767
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.

A
PlainFireData Composite Score
87/100
Houston 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
43.4 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
No FEMA AFG grant award on file for this department
3,815 personnel · 88 stations

Houston Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department serving Houston, TX (Harris County), with 88 stations and 3,815 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #2 of 22,440. Cumulative FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record: $20,598,767.

  • National personnel rank #2 of 22,440
  • TX personnel rank #1 of 1,231
  • 2.31 stations per 100 personnel
  • EMS provider (HIFLD)
  • 60 other listed departments in Harris County

Houston Fire Department vs. the national personnel distribution

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

3,815 Top 1% higher than 99%+ 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 KA926 · Houston Fire Department, TX 3,815 personnel · 88 stations

PERS-METRO · STA-SYSTEM · TYPE-CAREER · EMS-Y · RANK-TOP · ABOVE-PEER · FEMA-HEAVY · BOOK-FULL

  • PERS-METRO 3,815
  • STA-SYSTEM 88 stations
  • TYPE-CAREER Career
  • EMS-Y EMS on file
  • RANK-TOP #2
  • ABOVE-PEER over Frederick County…
  • FEMA-HEAVY $20.6M
  • BOOK-FULL 5/5 fields

Nearest personnel peer: Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, MD ( -1,008 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 TX department.

Department Profile

Type
CAREER
Location
Houston, TX
FDID
KA926

FEMA Grant History

$0
Cumulative funding (FY2012–2024)
0
Awards
Year Award Amount
2024 EMW-2024-FG-01814 $1,876,239.13
2022 EMW-2022-FG-00423 $475,119.3
2021 EMW-2021-FG-00520 $2,050,678.26
2021 EMW-2021-FP-00041 $173,328.57
2020 EMW-2020-FG-14369 $811,706.09
2019 EMW-2019-FG-05700 $1,966,790.32
2018 EMW-2018-FO-03569 $2,276,700.18
2017 EMW2016FO06715 $751,278
2017 EMW-2017-FO-05995 $673,137
2016 EMW2015FO05153 $2,953,820

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

Staffing vs the Texas average

How Houston Fire Department's personnel count compares to the typical department in Texas. In-state it ranks #1 of 1,231 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #2 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.

▲ 11121% above the state average
Stations
88
State fire deaths/yr
241
TX departments
1,879

County roster weight

Houston Fire Department carries 54.4% of Harris County HIFLD personnel

Among 78 listed departments (7,018 personnel), this FDID is the plurality weight, while volunteer departments are 47% of the county count. County / state rollup.

2.31 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (88 stations / 3,815 roster).

Photo-finish peer: Frederick County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, MD (-1,008 personnel).

Nationwide career peers near 3,815 personnel

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