Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (2017)

TOPICAL FIRE REPORT SERIES May 2019 | Volume 20, Issue 1

Fire departments provide invaluable services to communities nationwide. To understand the full role fire departments play in a community, this topical report profiles fire department run activity as reflected in the 2017 National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) data. Download the full 10 page report PDF 296 KB AT A GLANCE

In 2017, fire departments responded to
26,880,800
incident calls
that were reported to NFIRS. This is a 5% increase over calls reported to NFIRS in 2016.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of the reported calls to fire departments required Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and rescue services.


Only 4% of all reported fire department runs were fire related.

About half (51%) of the reported calls were to residential properties. Only 3% of these were fire related.


In 2017, fire runs were more prevalent on the weekends, whereas severe weather calls occurred more frequently on Mondays than any other day of the week.

Approximately 8% of reported runs involved mutual or automatic aid.

Updated: May 22, 2019 — 10:14 pm