Iowa 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 Iowa there is 1 department 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 this 1 department .
Volunteer Departments of Iowa
Here are the average numbers of volunteer firefighters for each county within Iowa, as well as the maximum and minimum numbers for that county.
| County | # Volunteer Departments | Average Firefighters | Highest # | Lowest # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adair | 4 | 19 | 28 | – |
| Adams | 3 | 21 | 30 | 15 |
| Allamakee | 3 | 28 | 30 | 25 |
| Appanoose | 4 | 22 | 28 | 10 |
| Audubon | 3 | 30 | 40 | 16 |
| Benton | 11 | 25 | 40 | 15 |
| Black Hawk | 6 | 27 | 35 | 18 |
| Boone | 5 | 19 | 33 | 12 |
| Bremer | 5 | 27 | 34 | 24 |
| Buchanan | 10 | 21 | 35 | 13 |
| Buena Vista | 5 | 25 | 33 | 10 |
| Butler | 8 | 22 | 35 | 12 |
| Calhoun | 9 | 25 | 46 | 12 |
| Carroll | 9 | 25 | 36 | 16 |
| Cass | 7 | 25 | 30 | 17 |
| Cedar | 8 | 27 | 35 | 18 |
| Cerro Gordo | 5 | 24 | 41 | 18 |
| Cherokee | 9 | 19 | 28 | 8 |
| Chickasaw | 5 | 24 | 30 | 17 |
| Clarke | 2 | 24 | 26 | 22 |
| Clay | 6 | 21 | 36 | 12 |
| Clayton | 11 | 24 | 30 | 10 |
| Clinton | 13 | 26 | 39 | 14 |
| Crawford | 9 | 24 | 36 | 17 |
| Dallas | 12 | 24 | 40 | 6 |
| Davis | 4 | 14 | 19 | 12 |
| Decatur | 6 | 15 | 25 | 9 |
| Delaware | 7 | 26 | 33 | 19 |
| Des Moines | 5 | 21 | 31 | 6 |
| Dickinson | 5 | 25 | 30 | 13 |
| Dubuque | 12 | 32 | 40 | 23 |
| Emmet | 4 | 21 | 27 | 14 |
| Fayette | 13 | 21 | 32 | 10 |
| Floyd | 7 | 22 | 29 | 15 |
| Franklin | 6 | 16 | 26 | 8 |
| Fremont | 7 | 24 | 33 | 14 |
| Greene | 5 | 20 | 30 | 12 |
| Grundy | 6 | 23 | 31 | 18 |
| Guthrie | 9 | 17 | 27 | 6 |
| Hamilton | 5 | 26 | 36 | 19 |
| Hancock | 6 | 20 | 26 | 11 |
| Hardin | 9 | 21 | 34 | 7 |
| Harrison | 8 | 20 | 28 | 10 |
| Henry | 7 | 20 | 30 | 7 |
| Howard | 6 | 22 | 26 | 18 |
| Humboldt | 6 | 16 | 21 | 6 |
| Ida | 4 | 23 | 30 | 13 |
| Iowa | 31 | 27 | 60 | 12 |
| Jackson | 8 | 27 | 40 | 10 |
| Jasper | 7 | 21 | 35 | 10 |
| Jefferson | 5 | 19 | 25 | 14 |
| Johnson | 9 | 31 | 50 | 22 |
| Jones | 7 | 23 | 35 | 11 |
| Keokuk | 9 | 21 | 34 | 11 |
| Kossuth | 12 | 22 | 28 | 14 |
| Lee | 6 | 24 | 27 | 17 |
| Linn | 15 | 28 | 61 | 15 |
| Louisa | 4 | 25 | 37 | 12 |
| Lucas | 5 | 24 | 35 | 15 |
| Lyon | 5 | 23 | 26 | 16 |
| Madison | 4 | 18 | 21 | 9 |
| Mahaska | 3 | 27 | 33 | 20 |
| Marion | 9 | 20 | 30 | 9 |
| Marshall | 7 | 21 | 32 | 16 |
| Mills | 8 | 17 | 21 | 11 |
| Mitchell | 2 | 29 | 30 | 28 |
| Monona | 8 | 19 | 25 | 12 |
| Monroe | 2 | 14 | 16 | 12 |
| Montgomery | 3 | 23 | 28 | 15 |
| Muscatine | 6 | 24 | 35 | 14 |
| Obrien | 8 | 21 | 32 | 11 |
| Osceola | 3 | 21 | 24 | 17 |
| Page | 6 | 16 | 30 | 9 |
| Palo Alto | 6 | 25 | 44 | 18 |
| Plymouth | 4 | 20 | 25 | 17 |
| Pocahontas | 7 | 23 | 38 | 18 |
| Polk | 11 | 29 | 49 | 10 |
| Pottawattamie | 15 | 24 | 34 | 14 |
| Poweshiek | 7 | 23 | 39 | 11 |
| Ringgold | 5 | 18 | 24 | 10 |
| Sac | 8 | 23 | 29 | 12 |
| Scott | 12 | 27 | 35 | 20 |
| Shelby | 7 | 25 | 34 | 20 |
| Sioux | 10 | 26 | 42 | 15 |
| Story | 10 | 21 | 27 | 17 |
| Tama | 10 | 23 | 38 | 15 |
| Taylor | 6 | 21 | 30 | 15 |
| Union | 3 | 22 | 30 | 12 |
| Van Buren | 6 | 20 | 28 | 14 |
| Wapello | 4 | 20 | 25 | 16 |
| Warren | 8 | 27 | 44 | 15 |
| Washington | 6 | 28 | 40 | 19 |
| Wayne | 5 | 22 | 28 | 18 |
| Webster | 10 | 19 | 25 | 15 |
| Winnebago | 5 | 20 | 24 | 13 |
| Winneshiek | 7 | 26 | 35 | 22 |
| Woodbury | 13 | 23 | 45 | 16 |
| Worth | 6 | 18 | 30 | 7 |
| Wright | 5 | 23 | 30 | 17 |
Career Departments of Iowa
Here are the average numbers of career firefighters for each county within Iowa, as well as the maximum and minimum numbers for that county.
| County | # Career Departments | Average Firefighters | Highest # | Lowest # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hawk | 1 | 106 | – | – |
| Cerro Gordo | 1 | 44 | – | – |
| Clinton | 1 | 45 | – | – |
| Des Moines | 2 | 31 | 48 | 13 |
| Dubuque | 2 | 47 | 89 | 5 |
| Iowa | 1 | 27 | – | – |
| Jasper | 1 | 30 | – | – |
| Johnson | 1 | 56 | – | – |
| Lee | 2 | 18 | 19 | 16 |
| Linn | 3 | 73 | 144 | 13 |
| Muscatine | 1 | 44 | – | – |
| Polk | 6 | 117 | 384 | 29 |
| Pottawattamie | 1 | 104 | – | – |
| Scott | 2 | 90 | 135 | 45 |
| Story | 1 | 55 | – | – |
| Wapello | 1 | 32 | – | – |
| Webster | 1 | 36 | – | – |
| Winnebago | 1 | 18 | – | – |
| Woodbury | 2 | 89 | 113 | 65 |
Department Types of Iowa
Here are the department types by county for volunteer and career agencies in for Iowa.
Looking for NFIRS FDIDs?
Here are the fire department identifiers (FDIDs) for agencies within Iowa. 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.
Last Updated on July 1, 2023