As of mid-April 2004, 22,334 fire departments had registered with the National Fire Department Census. The U.S. Fire Administration estimates this number represents about 75% of the departments in the United States.

The National Fire Department Census Database provides an online address listing of U.S. fire departments registered with USFA as well as some basic information about each fire department. The purpose of the census, which is ongoing, is to create a national database the USFA can use to study fire departments, guide program decision-making and improve its direct communications with fire departments.

In the past, it's often been estimated that 75% to 80% of America's fire departments are all volunteer or mostly volunteer. But the fire department census currently shows about 87% of registered departments in those categories (70.6% volunteer and 16.2% mostly volunteer) and 13% career or mostly career.

Keep in mind that the census is not yet complete, said Alex Furr, director of the USFA National Fire Data Center. The percentages of volunteer versus career departments may change as more departments list their information in the census database. “Volunteers may have just done a better job of reporting for a while,” she said.

But the percentages track with a National Fire Protection Association report, “U.S Fire Department Profile through 2002,” released in October 2003. The NFPA report also shows the total number of volunteer firefighters is up. Nationwide the number of volunteer firefighters increased 4.1% from 2001 to 2002, and was the highest it has been since 1995. According to report, of the total of 1,108,250 firefighters in the United States in 2002, 291,650 (26%) were career and 816,600 (74%) were volunteer. The numbers reflect a reversal in a downward trend seen in the amount of volunteers in since 1983.

Leaders of organizations supporting the volunteer fire service are happy to see such strong numbers. “I'm excited,” said Larry Curl, chairman of the IAFC's Volunteer & Combination Chief Officers Section. “The reality is volunteerism is not dead. I'm not sure that we're in the dying mode that everybody wants us to be in.”

The National Volunteer Fire Council's Philip Stittleburg said while he was encouraged by the new figures, volunteer fire departments still need to work hard at retention and recruitment to reverse the trend that has been chipping at volunteer ranks for the last 20 years.

The USFA's ongoing census of fire departments is at www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/fdonline/.