Department profile
Career (Paid)Sterling Fire Department
Sterling, IL · Whiteside County. Sterling Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department, 2 stations and 32 total personnel. According to the HIFLD fire-station federal registry (as of 2026-09), full equipment, coverage, and staffing data are below.
- 32
- Total personnel
- 2
- Stations
- Not reported
- Fire trucks
- No
- EMS service
The verdict
Sterling Fire Department pairs above-median national personnel with a headcount above the Illinois average.
- Top 42%
- national personnel size
- +39%
- vs. Illinois average
- 2
- stations
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 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.
Sterling Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department serving Sterling, IL (Whiteside County), with 2 stations and 32 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #9,342 of 22,440.
- National personnel rank #9,342 of 22,440
- IL personnel rank #406 of 971
- 6.25 stations per 100 personnel
- 9 other listed departments in Whiteside County
Sterling Fire Department vs. the national personnel distribution
Where this department's HIFLD-reported staffing sits among every listable U.S. fire department
32 Top 42% higher than 58% 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 WF192 · Sterling Fire Department, IL 32 personnel · 2 stations
PERS-SMALL · STA-FEW · TYPE-CAREER · EMS-N · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · FEMA-NONE · BOOK-FULL
- PERS-SMALL 32
- STA-FEW 2 stations
- TYPE-CAREER Career
- EMS-N No EMS flag
- RANK-MID #9,342
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Blue Volunteer
- FEMA-NONE No AFG/SAFER
- BOOK-FULL 4/5 fields
Nearest personnel peer: Blue Volunteer Fire Department, 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 IL department.
- Sterling (this dept) 32
- High Chilton Volunteer, TX 32
- Near Blue Volunteer, TX 32
- Near Boeing, KS 32
- Near Bremen, ME 32
Department Profile
- Type
- MOSTLY CAREER
- Location
- Sterling, IL
- County
- Whiteside County
- FDID
- WF192
Staffing vs the Illinois average
How Sterling Fire Department's personnel count compares to the typical department in Illinois. In-state it ranks #406 of 971 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #9,342 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.
- Stations
- 2
- State fire deaths/yr
- 127
- IL departments
- 1,493
County staffing outlier
Career (Paid) island in a volunteer-heavy Whiteside County
County mix is mostly volunteer (6 volunteer / 2 career / 0 combination), while this page is typed career. County / state rollup.
6.25 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (2 stations / 32 roster).
Photo-finish peer: Blue Volunteer Fire Department, TX (+0 personnel).
No FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on this FDID in USAspending (empty federal book).
Nearby Departments
Nationwide career peers near 32 personnel
Photo-finish and same-type HIFLD neighbours for this FDID, not a reprint of every IL department.