The U.S. Fire Administration has released the findings of a fire service needs assessment study conducted in cooperation with the Directorate for Preparedness, Department of Homeland Security and the National Fire Protection Association. “Four Years Later — A Second Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service” used the unaltered survey instrument developed for a needs assessment survey conducted in 2001, with the aim of supporting valid timelines on all questions.

In all, 15,545 fire departments — just over half the total in NFPA Fire Service Inventory database, including all departments protecting communities of at least 50,000 population — were mailed survey forms. 4,709 departments responded, for a 30% response rate.

The content of the survey was developed by NFPA in the 2001 survey, in collaboration with an ad hoc technical advisory group consisting of representatives of the full spectrum of national organizations and related disciplines associated with the management of fire and related hazards and risks in the U.S. The survey form was used without modification in order to maximize comparability of results and development of valid timelines.

Findings of the survey included:

Revenue and budgets

• Most of the revenues for all- or mostly-volunteer fire departments come from taxes, either a special fire district tax or some other tax, including an average of 64%-68% of revenues covered for communities of less than 5,000 population.
• Other governmental payments – including reimbursements on a per-call basis, other local government payments, and state government payments – contributed an average of 11%-13% of revenues for communities under 5,000 population.
• Fund-raising contributed an average of 19% of revenues for communities of less than 2,500 population.

Personnel and Capabilities

• There are roughly 1.1 million active firefighters in the U.S. of which just under three-fourths are volunteer firefighters. Nearly half the volunteers serve in communities with less than 2,500 population.
• The number of volunteers has been declining and the number of career firefighters has been increasing for several years. Part of the reason is that there has been a slight shift from all- or mostly-volunteer departments toward all- or mostly-career departments.
• An estimated 79,000 firefighters serve in fire departments that protect communities of at least 50,000 population and have fewer than 4 career firefighters assigned to first-due engine companies. It is likely that, for many of these departments, the first arriving complement of firefighters often falls short of the minimum of 4 firefighters needed to initiate an interior attack on a structure fire, thereby requiring the first-arriving firefighters to wait until the rest of the first-alarm responders arrive.
• An estimated 36% of fire departments are involved in delivering emergency medical services (EMS) but have not provided formal training in those duties to all involved personnel.
• The majority of fire departments do not have all their personnel involved in emergency medical services (EMS) certified to the level of Basic Life Support and almost no departments have all those personnel certified to the level of Advanced Life Support.
• An estimated 36% of fire departments involved in hazardous material response have not provided formal training in those duties to all involved personnel.
• More than four out of five fire departments do not have all their personnel involved in hazardous material response certified to the Operational level and almost no departments have all those personnel certified to the Technician level.
• An estimated 63% of fire departments involved in wildland firefighting have not provided formal training in those duties to all involved personnel.
• An estimated 50% of fire departments involved in technical rescue service have not provided formal training in those duties to all involved personnel.
• An estimated 737,000 firefighters serve in fire departments with no program to maintain basic firefighter fitness and health, most of them volunteers serving communities with less than 5,000 population.

Facilities, Apparatus and Equipment

• Roughly 17,300 fire stations (36% of the estimated 48,400 total fire stations) are estimated to be at least 40 years old.
• Roughly 14,000 fire engines (pumpers) (17% of all engines) are 15 to 19 years old, another 15,700 (19%) are 20 to 29 years old, and 10,900 (13%) are at least 30 years old. Therefore, roughly half (49%) of all engines are at least 15 years old.
• Among fire departments protecting communities with less than 2,500 population, at least 14% of departments are estimated to have no ladder/aerial apparatus but to have at least one building 4-stories high or higher in the community.
• An estimated 65% of fire departments do not have enough portable radios to equip all emergency responders on a shift. The percentage of departments that cannot provide radios to all emergency responders on a shift is highest for communities under 2,500 population.
• An estimated 60% of fire departments do not have enough self-contained breathing apparatus to equip all firefighters on a shift.

The full 150-page report may be viewed in PDF format here.