The state of volunteer firefighter recruitment

Most of America's fire departments depend on volunteers. There are fewer of them than there used to be, while calls keep rising. This page brings together what is known about recruiting them today.

Fewer volunteers, more calls

• Volunteers are most of the fire service. Of an estimated 1,018,100 firefighters in the United States, 635,100, or 62%, are volunteers. Of the country's 29,452 fire departments, 18,873 are all volunteer and 5,335 are mostly volunteer.¹
• Their numbers are falling. In 2020, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) counted 676,900 volunteer firefighters, the lowest number in its survey² and about a quarter fewer than in 1984.³ Its latest estimate, 635,100, is lower still.¹
• Calls keep rising. From 2010 to 2020, calls to fire departments rose 23%, to more than 36.4 million a year, while the number of volunteer firefighters fell 12%.⁴
• Volunteers save their communities money. The time volunteer firefighters donate saves localities an estimated $46.9 billion a year.¹

When a department cannot find enough volunteers, the members it has carry more of the load, and help can take longer to arrive.

An inquiry is a first step

An interest form tells a department that someone would like to hear more. Before that person answers a call, they still need to:

1. hear back from the department, and soon
2. live or work close enough to respond to one of its stations
3. apply, and pass a background check and often a medical exam or physical ability test
4. finish recruit training, usually over several months, and stay through probation

People drop out at every step. Departments keep more of them when they answer within a day or two, are upfront about the requirements and the time, and invite people to a training night. See how to recruit more volunteers.

What statewide recruitment did in Nevada

A statewide program markets volunteering across one state, reaches the people searching there, and sends each applicant to a participating department near them, with a full application rather than an inquiry.

In Nevada, our founder, Lars Estrem, led the Nevada Fire Chiefs Association's statewide online volunteer recruitment. From its first application on January 3, 2017, to April 16, 2018, the association's online volunteer application received:⁵

• 757 volunteer firefighter applications, from about 580 people (some applied to more than one department, or more than once)
• 584 applications in its first year, 2017, more than 45 a month, from about 450 people
• 173 applications from January 1 to April 16, 2018, about 49 a month
• 382 applications, half of them, from people who said they found the application through a search engine

These count completed applications, not inquiries or phone calls. The program later grew to more than 100 applications a month.⁵

Start a statewide volunteer program with us

If you want to start a statewide volunteer recruitment program, partner with FireDepartment.net. We want to build a program that would:

• Build websites for fire departments, so people can find their local department and learn how to volunteer there.
• Provide targeted marketing for volunteer recruitment, reaching people in the communities that need volunteers.
• Open a call center where applicants can call, text or email their questions about volunteer firefighting.

Contact us to talk about what a program could look like in your state.

Contact us about a statewide program

What you can do

• Fire departments: keep your FireDepartment.net listing current, describe what volunteering is really like, and answer every applicant within a day or two. See how to recruit more volunteers.
• Associations: SAFER grants for recruiting and keeping volunteers are open to volunteer and combination fire departments, and to national, state, local and tribal organizations that represent volunteer firefighters.⁶ Encourage member departments to keep their listings current and to use the free volunteer application.

Sources

1. National Volunteer Fire Council, Volunteer Fire Service Fact Sheet (February 2026), citing the NFPA.
2. National Fire Protection Association, U.S. Fire Department Profile 2020 (September 2022).
3. Fire Protection Research Foundation, Understanding the Role of Training on Volunteer Firefighter Recruitment and Retention.
4. National Volunteer Fire Council, position statement on ease of federal compliance (2023).
5. Nevada Fire Chiefs Association online volunteer firefighter applications, January 3, 2017, to April 16, 2018, counted by FireDepartment.net. People are counted once, by name and date of birth. The later figure of more than 100 applications a month is from our founder.
6. FEMA, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants.

Talk to us about recruiting