Top 10 US States by Total Fire Department Personnel
NFIRS state-level rollup ranking US states by total fire-service personnel across career, volunteer, and combination departments. Rendered server-side from the live PlainFireData state_stats table.
Research
Original Fire-Data Research
Original data research from the PlainFireData editorial process. Every figure updates automatically as our source data refreshes; no numbers are hand-typed.
Download the fire-department landscape extract cited on this page: fire-department-landscape.csv (HIFLD / USFA / FEMA public records).
What can you learn from PlainFireData research?
What this research covers
PlainFireData research ranks HIFLD/USFA fire-department reporting across 32,253 departments in 55 states (898,677 total personnel in the extract).
- 32,253
- fire departments in extract
- 55
- states with ≥1 department
- 898,677
- personnel in extract
- 5
- published ranking studies
Studies below answer one ranking question each from the live HIFLD/NFIRS mirror; they are descriptive registry statistics, not staffing advice or grant recommendations.
Top 10 US Fire Departments by AFG/SAFER Grant Funding
Cumulative department-level rollup of federal AFG and SAFER awards across recorded fiscal years (not a single-year snapshot).
Top 10 US States by Annual Fire Deaths
USFA/NFIRS state-level rollup ranking US states by annual fire-death count and per-capita rate. Rendered server-side from the live state_stats table.
Top 10 US States by Volunteer Fire Department Share
Which US states rely most on volunteer fire departments, the state-level share of departments that are primarily volunteer, rendered live from the state_stats table.
Top 10 US States by Number of Career Fire Departments
US states ranked by the count of career (full-time paid) fire departments, a live state_stats rollup contrasting with the volunteer-share ranking.
What makes this research different?
Every figure on these pages updates automatically as our source data refreshes, nothing is hand-typed. The rankings draw on the HIFLD fire-station registry (DHS/CISA), USFA National Fire Statistics, FEMA AFG/SAFER grant disclosures, and 2023 US Census population estimates, so each result is auditable to the source row. Read the methodology for the full source list and refresh cadence.