How many fire fighters are there in the U.S.? (How many career, how many volunteer?
According to estimates based on the National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) U.S. Fire Department Profile through 2006 (released November 2007), there were approximately 1,140,900 fire fighters in the U.S. in 2006, a fraction of a percent increase from the previous year. The information comes from an annual survey sent out to fire departments and a weighting formula used by NFPA in their estimate equation. In this survey, career fire fighters were defined to include full-time fire fighters regardless of assignments (e.g. suppression, prevention/inspection, administrative). This survey defined career fire fighters who work for public municipal fire departments; it does not include career fire fighters who work for state or federal government or in private fire brigades. Career fire fighters were 28% of the total, or 316,950. Most career fire fighters (74% of the 316,950) work in communities that protect 25,000 or more people.
According to estimates based on the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 2002 National Fire Experience Survey (released January 2004), there were approximately 1,108,240 fire fighters in the U.S. in 2002, an increase of 2.8% from the previous year.The information comes from an annual survey sent out to fire departments and a weighting formula used by NFPA in their estimate equation. In this survey, career fire fighters were defined to include full-time fire fighters regardless of assignments (e.g. suppression, prevention/inspection, administrative).This survey defined career fire fighters who work for public municipal fire departments; it does not include career fire fighters who work for state or federal government or in private fire brigades. Career fire fighters were 26% of the total, or 291,650.Most career fire fighters (76% of the 291,650) work in communities that protect 25,000 or more people.
