Department profile

Career (Paid)EMS Provider

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services

Rapid City, SD · Pennington County. Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services is a Career (Paid) department, 1 station and 128 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.

128
Total personnel
1
Stations
Not reported
Fire trucks
Yes
EMS service

The verdict

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services pairs top-5% national personnel with a headcount more than double the South Dakota average.

Top 3%
national personnel size
+540%
vs. South Dakota average
1
station
$2,181,173
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
100/100
Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services

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
128 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
128 personnel · 1 station

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services is a Career (Paid) department serving Rapid City, SD (Pennington County), with 1 station and 128 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #584 of 22,440. Cumulative FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record: $2,181,173.

  • National personnel rank #584 of 22,440
  • SD personnel rank #2 of 257
  • 0.78 stations per 100 personnel
  • EMS provider (HIFLD)
  • 17 other listed departments in Pennington County

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services vs. the national personnel distribution

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

128 Top 3% higher than 97% 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 02101 · Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services, SD 128 personnel · 1 station

PERS-MID · STA-1 · TYPE-CAREER · EMS-Y · RANK-TOP · PHOTO-FINISH · FEMA-MID · BOOK-FULL

  • PERS-MID 128
  • STA-1 1 station
  • TYPE-CAREER Career
  • EMS-Y EMS on file
  • RANK-TOP #584
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Kingsville Volunt…
  • FEMA-MID $2.2M
  • BOOK-FULL 5/5 fields

Nearest personnel peer: Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company, MD (+ 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 SD department.

Department Profile

Type
CAREER
Location
Rapid City, SD
FDID
02101

FEMA Grant History

$0
Cumulative funding (FY2017–2019)
0
Awards
Year Award Amount
2019 EMW-2019-FF-00559 $1,105,051.62
2017 EMW2015FH00833 $1,076,121

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

Staffing vs the South Dakota average

How Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services's personnel count compares to the typical department in South Dakota. In-state it ranks #2 of 257 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #584 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.

▲ 540% above the state average
Stations
1
State fire deaths/yr
17
SD departments
365

County roster weight

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services carries 27.0% of Pennington County HIFLD personnel

Among 20 listed departments (474 personnel), this FDID is the plurality weight, while volunteer departments are 65% of the county count. County / state rollup.

0.78 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (1 station / 128 roster).

Photo-finish peer: Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company, MD (+0 personnel).

Nearby Departments

Box Elder Fire Department
Box Elder · volunteer
Doty Volunteer Fire Department
Rapid City · volunteer
Hayward Fire Department
Keystone · volunteer
Hill City Fire Department
Hill City · volunteer
Keystone Fire Department
Keystone · volunteer
New Underwood Fire Department
New Underwood · volunteer
North Haines Volunteer Fire Department
Rapid City · volunteer
All SD departments →

Nationwide career peers near 128 personnel

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

Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company, MD 128 Chippewa Fire District, WI 128 Elkhart Fire Department - Central Station, IN 128 San Diego Rural Fire Protection District, CA 128 Fort Smith Fire Department, AR 128 Cherry Hill Fire Department, NJ 129 Des Plaines Fire Department, IL 129 Alpharetta Department of Public Safety Division of Fire, GA 129

Frequently Asked Questions

How many firefighters does Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services have?

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services has 128 total personnel according to HIFLD data. This is 540% above the South Dakota average of 20 per department. Among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel, it ranks #584 of 22,440 by total personnel (same basis as the largest-departments ranking). Within SD, it ranks #2 of 257 by personnel.

Does Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services provide EMS services?

Yes, Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in addition to fire response.

How many fire stations does Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services operate?

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services operates 1 fire station.

What type of fire department is Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services?

Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services is a Career (Paid) department serving Pennington County, SD. Career departments employ full-time paid firefighters.

Has Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services received federal grants?

Yes, Rapid City Department of Fire and Emergency Services has received 2 FEMA grants totaling $2,181,172.62 in cumulative AFG and SAFER awards across FY2017–2019 (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 South Dakota?

South Dakota has 365 fire departments with 7,257 total personnel. 69% 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.