California Fire Department Personnel

Personnel (fire department membership) numbers vary by region, by state and even by county. Recruiting is critical to fire department success, see National Volunteer Fire Council’s Make Me a Firefighter and National Volunteer Fire Council’s Recruiting Resources. Check out how your department’s numbers compare to those around you, to see how your recruitment and retention investments are fairing.

This information is based solely upon fire departments that have registered with the National Fire Service Registry. If you have not registered your fire department, please do so, it is free and contributes to a complete picture of the fire services. Check out some Quick Facts from the registry.

Department Type

NOTE: In the USFA National Fire Service Registry data for California there are 2 departments NOT classified, and so NOT included in these statistics. Departments should register as Career, Mostly Career, Volunteer or Mostly Volunteer but we do not have it for these 2 departments .

Volunteer Departments of California

Here are the average numbers of volunteer firefighters for each county within California, as well as the maximum and minimum numbers for that county.

County	# Volunteer Departments	Average Firefighters	Highest #	Lowest #
Alameda	2	37	52	21
Alpine	4	17	25	8
Amador	6	24	39	12
Butte	2	14	20	8
Calaveras	10	30	60	12
Colusa	7	25	35	14
Contra Costa	5	59	91	45
Del Norte	5	19	29	12
El Dorado	6	25	32	18
Fresno	17	18	42	6
Glenn	7	25	37	16
Humboldt	25	16	63	4
Imperial	7	27	68	13
Inyo	8	21	36	2
Kern	5	16	20	11
Kings	1	35	–	–
Lake	4	34	49	19
Lassen	14	12	37	2
Los Angeles	8	56	126	7
Madera	2	70	112	27
Marin	6	23	33	13
Mariposa	3	34	78	6
Mendocino	19	26	46	4
Merced	4	91	297	14
Modoc	9	17	41	4
Mono	9	23	69	12
Monterey	13	52	292	–
Napa	3	93	234	17
Nevada	7	20	37	6
Orange	2	47	47	46
Placer	6	16	41	2
Plumas	15	14	33	6
Riverside	10	27	57	11
Sacramento	6	40	76	20
San Benito	1	25	–	–
San Bernardino	12	38	112	7
San Diego	7	27	44	10
San Joaquin	11	23	40	12
San Luis Obispo	13	47	331	–
San Mateo	4	19	36	8
Santa Barbara	3	17	20	11
Santa Clara	3	25	54	7
Santa Cruz	6	53	139	21
Shasta	19	27	178	7
Sierra	6	17	27	10
Siskiyou	27	18	60	1
Solano	8	33	73	14
Sonoma	24	44	217	7
Stanislaus	12	33	84	15
Sutter	1	7	–	–
Tehama	2	69	101	36
Trinity	12	13	21	6
Tulare	7	119	692	13
Tuolumne	7	24	63	7
Ventura	3	51	77	22
Yolo	13	25	55	14
Yuba	7	19	34	8

Career Departments of California

Here are the average numbers of career firefighters for each county within California, as well as the maximum and minimum numbers for that county.

County	# Career Departments	Average Firefighters	Highest #	Lowest #
Alameda	13	127	508	19
Amador	2	30	50	9
Butte	6	92	410	17
Calaveras	2	18	32	3
Contra Costa	10	78	229	20
El Dorado	7	72	180	22
Fresno	10	86	284	15
Glenn	1	160	–	–
Humboldt	6	97	205	30
Imperial	2	31	38	24
Inyo	1	150	–	–
Kern	5	177	535	13
Kings	4	49	85	15
Lake	2	24	35	13
Lassen	3	30	40	22
Los Angeles	35	267	3625	2
Madera	2	17	17	16
Marin	13	46	149	10
Mendocino	1	100	–	–
Merced	2	41	63	19
Modoc	1	10	–	–
Mono	1	18	–	–
Monterey	15	34	86	5
Napa	2	47	69	25
Nevada	6	28	48	9
Orange	14	193	1323	20
Placer	12	44	111	15
Plumas	3	84	214	14
Riverside	26	160	1500	3
Sacramento	7	749	3800	15
San Benito	1	47	–	–
San Bernardino	21	91	640	21
San Diego	44	81	949	3
San Francisco	2	871	1700	42
San Joaquin	8	64	182	18
San Luis Obispo	6	23	45	8
San Mateo	11	72	103	32
Santa Barbara	7	88	243	27
Santa Clara	13	143	679	22
Santa Cruz	7	39	77	10
Shasta	2	187	275	98
Sierra	1	45	–	–
Solano	7	71	94	36
Sonoma	9	54	138	8
Stanislaus	5	62	152	24
Sutter	2	47	52	41
Tehama	2	69	100	37
Trinity	1	32	–	–
Tulare	5	84	192	39
Tuolumne	4	14	38	5
Ventura	4	164	402	71
Yolo	4	47	60	32
Yuba	2	21	21	20

Department Types of California

Here are the department types by county for volunteer and career agencies in for California.

Looking for NFIRS FDIDs?

Here are the fire department identifiers (FDIDs) for agencies within California. NFIRS FDIDs are required for submitting NFIRS reports with mutual aid or automatic aid with those departments.

Need more NFIRS help?

Here are some useful ressources to learn more about NFIRS.

NFIRS Codes Cheat Sheet – NFIRS Coding – NFIRS Examples – FDIDs – POCs – NFIRS Transactions – NFIRS Modules – NFIRS Elements – NFIRS Rules – NFIRS Reference – NFIRS Compliant ?

You can also read this NFIRS 5.0 Complete Reference Guide, and NFIRS 5.0 Design documentation in order to have a deeper understanding of NFIRS 5.0. Here are also NFIRS 5.0 Forms ready for you to download and use.

We are here to help, Feel free to contact us if you need any additionnal informations.