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Fact Sheet - National Volunteer Fire Council (http://www.nvfc.org)
Volunteer comprise
73% of firefighters in the United States. Of the total estimated 1,078,300
volunteer and paid
firefighters across the country, 784,700 are volunteers.
The majority of
fire departments in the United States are volunteers. Of the total
estimated 26,354 departments in the
country, 19,224 are all volunteers; 3,845
are mostly volunteers; 1,407 are mostly career; and 1,878 are all career.
64 of 102
firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2000 were volunteers.
The number of
volunteer firefighters in the United States has declined nearly 11% since 1983.
The number of 880,000
in 1983 has dropped to 790,000 in 2001.
Small communities
rely heavily on volunteer firefighters. Less than 2,500 population
communities (such as
Apalachicola, Alligator Point, Carrabelle, Dog Island,
Eastpoint, Lanark Village, and St. George Island) are protected by
398,550
firefighters - 391,350 are volunteers and 7,200 are paid. Between 100,000
to 249,000 population communities
(such as Tallahassee, Florida) are protected
by 48,550 firefighters - 5,250 are volunteers and 43,300 are paid.
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