Rhode Island Fire Departments 111 departments

What This Data Tells You About Fire Services in Rhode Island

Rhode Island operates 111 fire departments with 4,218 reported personnel across 5 counties. The organizational mix is a strong signal of how the state funds and delivers fire protection: 25 career (paid) departments, 42 volunteer departments, and 0 combination departments appear in the HIFLD registry. Volunteer staffing sits at 38% of departments, a figure that typically correlates with population density, rural geography, and local tax capacity. EMS delivery is meaningful for residents: 60 of these departments (56%) also run Emergency Medical Services in-house, while the rest rely on separate EMS agencies or county-level providers.

Risk and outcome data from USFA adds the human side of these structural numbers. Rhode Island records approximately 8,700 fires per year, leading to 9 fire deaths and 99 injuries annually. Reported property loss averages about $96M per year, which insurers fold into ISO Public Protection Classification scores and homeowners premiums. Those statewide totals are absorbed unevenly: dense metros tend to drive call volume and career staffing, while rural counties lean on volunteer crews covering large response districts with longer arrival times. The ranking position of #8 among peers reflects the interaction of these factors rather than any single metric.

For homeowners, insurers, journalists, and policy staff, this page is a starting point rather than a verdict. Reading department-by-department profiles reveals which jurisdictions carry the heaviest load (see the largest-by-personnel list above) and which counties have thinner coverage (browse the counties panel). Cross-referencing fire cause data, state fire codes, and FEMA AFG/SAFER grant history paints a fuller picture of where federal and state investment has flowed and where staffing gaps remain. All figures come directly from the HIFLD Open Data program (FEMA/DHS) and USFA published fire statistics; counts can lag real-world changes by 6 to 18 months and small volunteer departments are sometimes underreported, so treat single-department anomalies as cues to verify with the local agency.