Topical Fire Report Series

Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to 

the National Fire Incident Reporting System (2017)

May 2019 | Volume 20, Issue 1

To p i c a l r e p o r t s a r e 

designed to explore facets 

of the U.S. fire problem as 

depicted through data 

collected in the U.S. Fire 

Administration’s National 

Fire Incident Reporting 

System. Each topical report 

briefly addresses the 

nature of the specific fire or 

fire-related topic, highlights 

important findings from 

the data, and may suggest 

other resources to consider 

for further information. 

Findings

ĵ In 2017, fire departments responded to 26,880,800 calls that were reported to the 

National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS); this count reflects a 5% increase 

in the number of calls reported in 2016.

ĵ Almost two-thirds (64%) of the reported calls to fire departments required 

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and rescue services.

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

ĵ 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.

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

these were fire related.

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

Fire departments provide invaluable services to communities nationwide. They respond to all types of emergency 

situations involving fires, explosions, rescues, medical emergencies, hazardous conditions, natural disasters and 

false alarms. They also respond to nonemergency service calls and good intent calls. Often, what is described to 

dispatchers does not reflect the actual incident type; nevertheless, fire departments are trained and prepared 

to respond to a wide variety of situations.1

To understand the fire department’s full role in a community, this topical report profiles fire department run 

activity as reflected in the 2017 NFIRS data.2,3 In 2017, fire departments across the U.S. responded to 26,880,800 

calls as reported to the NFIRS.4 This count reflects a 5% increase in the number of calls reported in 2016.5

While “fire” is part of the department name, only 4% of runs made by fire departments actually involved fire, as 

shown in Figure 1. Runs in the EMS and rescue, good intent, false alarm, and service call incident type categories 

accounted for 91% of all reported runs.6 Specifically, 64% of all fire department runs were categorized as EMS 

and rescue. Good intent calls (11%), false alarms and false calls (8%), and service calls (7%) were the next most 

prevalent incident type categories, followed by fire.7 This percentage distribution of runs by major incident type 

category is comparable to that of the runs reported in 2016.8

Within the major incident type categories, EMS, medical assist, and dispatched and canceled enroute calls were 

the leading specific types of fire department runs.9 EMS calls accounted for 41% of all fire department runs. 

Medical assist calls accounted for 10% of runs, and fire departments were dispatched and canceled enroute in 

7% of calls.

National Fire Data Center

16825 S. Seton Ave.

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/
TFRS Volume 20, Issue 1 | Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (2017)

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Figure 1. Fire department overall runs by major incident type category (Percent of runs, 2017)

Percent of calls

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0

Overpressure Rupture/Overheat

(No Fire)

Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

Special Incident Type

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

Fire

Service Call

False Alarm/False Call

Good Intent Call

EMS/Rescue 64.4

11.3

8.2

7.2

4.2

3.5

0.8

0.2

0.1

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: Total does not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Emergency calls

The official national emergency number is 911. Emergency calls are placed to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), 

typically city or county controlled, where a trained dispatcher is ready to route the call to local emergency medical, 

fire and police services. Dispatchers at the PSAPs determine the location of calls by cross-referencing the telephone 

number against a location database.10 Technology involving wireless telephones and Voice over Internet Protocol 

services, such as cellphones and internet connections (e.g., DSL, dial-up and cable modems), make determining 

where the call is coming from more complex because the call is not associated with a fixed location. This can delay 

emergency response times. However, to improve the ability of emergency personnel to respond efficiently to callers 

placing wireless 911 calls, the Federal Communications Commission has taken steps to ensure that wireless service 

providers make location information automatically available to PSAPs.

In some rural and remote areas, emergency calls connect directly to local fire stations. Presently, more and more 

rural area residences are in the process of establishing precise addresses for future PSAP capabilities.11

Hourly, weekly, monthly and seasonal profile of runs

Fire departments respond to incidents every day, at all times of the day. In 2017, the demand for fire department 

services was relatively constant during the late morning through the early evening. Peak demand was from 3 to 6 

p.m., as shown in Figure 2. 

Each type of run has its own characteristic daily profile, as shown in Figure 3. All runs were lowest in the very early 

morning hours and increased during the morning as daily activities began. Most run types reached near peak demand in 

midmorning and remained relatively constant with peak hours occurring in the mid-to-late afternoon, until early evening. 

Fire, severe weather and special incident (e.g., citizen complaint) runs were notable exceptions. Fire runs increased slowly 

but steadily during the day, peaked during the late afternoon, and then steadily decreased. Severe weather runs had 

below average demand until midafternoon, increased sharply through late afternoon and early evening, then decreased 

sharply during the late evening hours. Special incident runs had below-average demand until 8 a.m., peaked late morning, 

and continued to decline with two small peaks in the midafternoon and early evening hours. 
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Figure 2. Fire department overall runs by time of day (Percent of runs, 2017)

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

11 p.m. - Mid

10 - 11 p.m.

9 - 10 p.m.

1 - 2 p.m.2 - 3 p.m.3 - 4 p.m.4 - 5 p.m.5 - 6 p.m.6 - 7 p.m.7 - 8 p.m.8 - 9 p.m.

12 - 1 p.m.

11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

10 - 11 a.m.

9 - 10 a.m.

1 - 2 a.m.2 - 3 a.m.3 - 4 a.m.4 - 5 a.m.5 - 6 a.m.6 - 7 a.m.7 - 8 a.m.8 - 9 a.m.

Mid - 1 a.m.

2.7

2.4 2.1

3.4

4.3

4.9

5.4 5.6 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.6

5.2

4.8

4.3

3.7

3.1

1.9 1.8 1.9

2.5

Percent of runs

Time of alarm

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Figure 3. Fire department overall runs by time of day and major incident type category (Percent of runs, 2017)

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

Special Incident Type

Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

False Alarm and False Call

Good Intent Call

Service Call

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

EMS and Rescue

Overpressure Rupture/Explosion (No Fire)

Fire

Average

11 p.m. - Mid

10 - 11 p.m.

9 - 10 p.m.

1 - 2 p.m.2 - 3 p.m.3 - 4 p.m.

4 - 5 p.m.

5 - 6 p.m.6 - 7 p.m.7 - 8 p.m.8 - 9 p.m.

12 - 1 p.m.

11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

10 - 11 a.m.

9 - 10 a.m.

1 - 2 a.m.2 - 3 a.m.3 - 4 a.m.4 - 5 a.m.5 - 6 a.m.6 - 7 a.m.7 - 8 a.m.8 - 9 a.m.

Mid - 1 a.m.

Percent of runs

Time of alarm

Source: NFIRS 5.0.
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Overall, fire department runs followed a fairly consistent pattern by day of the week, except for calls to fires, 

hazardous conditions, explosions or overpressure ruptures, and severe weather events (Figure 4). In 2017, fire 

departments responded to more severe weather calls reported on Mondays than any other day of the week; 63% of 

these weather events reported on Mondays occurred in September (27%), October (24%) and May (12%).12 Fire calls 

were more prevalent on the weekends, whereas hazardous condition runs and explosion or overpressure rupture 

calls were more frequent on Mondays and Tuesdays, respectively.

The occurrence of runs on a monthly basis was relatively constant. However, there was a slight increase in runs 

during January and July (Figure 5). 

EMS and rescue responses were the most prevalent fire department responses each season, as shown in Figure 6.13

This is to be expected as 64% of all fire department runs were categorized as EMS and rescue. Overall, the percentage 

distribution of the type of runs remained relatively consistent for each season.

Figure 4. Fire department overall runs by major incident type category and day of week (Percent of runs, 2017)

9.0

11.0

13.0

15.0

17.0

19.0

21.0

23.0

25.0

Special Incident Type

Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

False Alarm and False Call

Good Intent Call

Service Call

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

EMS and Rescue

Overpressure Rupture/Explosion (No Fire)

Fire

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Percent of runs

Day of week

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Figure 5. Fire department overall runs by month (Percent of runs, 2017)

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

November

December

October

September

August

July

April

May

June

March

February

January

8.6

7.7

8.5 8.4 8.6 8.4 8.4 8.5

7.8

8.5 8.2 8.4

Percent of runs

Month of year

Source: NFIRS 5.0.
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Figure 6. Fire department overall runs by season and major incident type category (Percent of runs, 2017)

Percent of runs

Season

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0

Overpressure Rupture/

Explosion (No Fire)

Severe Weather/

Natural Disaster

Special Incident Type

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

Fire

Service Call

False Alarm and False Call

Good Intent Call

EMS and Rescue

Fall

Summer

Spring

Winter

11.3

65.0

7.6

7.0

4.6

3.5

0.8

0.2

0.2

11.3

64.6

7.9

7.2

4.2

3.5

0.9

0.2

0.1

11.4

63.9

8.6

7.2

4.0

3.6

0.9

0.2

0.2

11.4

64.1

8.5

7.3

4.1

3.5

0.8

0.1

0.1

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: For the winter, spring and fall distributions of runs, the totals do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Regional profile of runs

Fire departments in the South reported the most runs in 2017; 41% of all runs occurred in this region (Table 1).14 This 

is to be expected as 38% of the U.S. population resided in the South in 2017.15

For all regions, most calls to fire departments required EMS and rescue services (Figure 7).The Midwestern, Southern 

and Western regions reported the highest percentages of EMS and rescue runs ranging from 66% to 68%; the 

Northeast region had the lowest percentage at 52%. Some fire departments in the Northeast still limit their role to 

traditional fire suppression services and others have only recently taken on EMS roles. This situation may explain 
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the disparity between the percentages of EMS runs in the Northeast and the rest of the nation.16 Special incidents, 

such as citizen complaints, represented 4% of all runs in the Northeastern region, which was the highest out of all the 

regions. False alarm calls were also highest in the Northeast (15%), whereas good intent calls were highest in the West.

Table 1. Fire department overall runs by region (Percent of runs, 2017)

Region Percent

Northeast 14.9

Midwest 20.3

South 41.4

West 23.4

Total 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Figure 7. Fire department overall runs by region and major incident type category (Percent of runs, 2017)

Percent of runs

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0

Overpressure Rupture/Explosion

(No Fire)

Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

Special Incident Type

Fire

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

Service Call

Good Intent Call

False Alarm and False Call

EMS and Rescue 65.9

7.2

12.1

7.1

3.1

4.1

0.3

0.2

0.1

Percent of runs

South West

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0

67.8

5.9

13.7

6.5

2.0

3.5

0.4

0.1

0.1

Percent of runs

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

Overpressure Rupture/Explosion

(No Fire)

Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

Special Incident Type

Fire

Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

Service Call

Good Intent Call

False Alarm and False Call

EMS and Rescue 51.5

15.2

8.6

8.6

6.8

5.0

3.7

0.3

0.3

Percent of runs

Northeast Midwest

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0

66.9

7.7

9.1

7.1

3.8

4.8

0.4

0.2

0.2

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: For the Midwest and South distributions of runs, the totals do not add up to 100% due to rounding.
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Property use

In 2017, about half of all calls involved residential properties (51%) followed by outside or special properties (18%), as 

shown in Figure 8.17 Generally, 70% of all reported calls to residences required EMS and rescue services. Service calls 

(9%) and false alarm calls (8%) accounted for an additional 17% of all residential calls. Only 3% of the reported calls 

to residences were fire related.

Figure 8. Fire department overall runs by major property use category (Percent of runs, 2017)

Percent of runs

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

Undetermined

Missing/Blank

Industry

Manufacturing

Other

Storage

Educational

None

Assembly

Stores/Business

Health Care

Outside/Special Property

Residential 51.4

7.2

17.7

5.0

3.8

1.6

2.3

0.9

1.1

0.5

0.3

4.8

3.4

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Aid

Aid offers additional resources to fire departments for large-scale or specialized incidents, or when response time to an 

incident is faster by another jurisdiction. Aid is given or received, either automatically or mutually, for a specific incident. 

Automatic aid involves prearranged agreements according to hazard conditions, jurisdictions or incidents requiring 

special equipment. Mutual aid is generally requested on a reactive basis as resources are depleted at the incident.

Informal and formal aid relationships vary depending on the location or the type of the incident. Innovative aid 

relationships, which focus on improving the allocation of resources and response times, continue to augment the 

advancement of fire department services. Overall, 8% of fire department runs involve giving or receiving aid, either 

mutual or automatic (Table 2).

Small rural areas generally follow informal agreements where it is understood that large-scale incidents will require all 

available resources from several community fire departments and that each department sustains its own resources 

when providing aid. However, informal relationships in rural areas are giving way to more formal relationships 

between jurisdictions as rural areas experience huge growth and do not have the resources to contain the fire 

demands that increasingly point toward “metropolitan risk” levels.18

Formal aid relationships provide better access to resources. Many local jurisdictions and states maintain exemplary aid 

systems. The key issues facing aid agreements deal with liability and reimbursement. Resolving these issues results 

in better fire services. The Emergency Management Assistance Compact and Urban Search and Rescue teams have 
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greatly improved the ability to overcome these issues and move resources from state to state. The National Mutual Aid 

System was developed to manage greater threats facing the United States, including terrorism and natural disasters.19

Types of aid

While 92% of all fire department runs were not aid-related, the level of aid runs varies with the type of incident. Aid given 

and aid received runs were more prevalent for fire incidents than for any other incident type category. Good intent calls 

and explosion or overpressure rupture incidents also involved aid more often than other types of incidents (Table 2). 

Table 2. Fire department overall runs by major incident type category and general type of aid 

(Percent of runs, 2017)

Major incident type category

Aid

No aid Total

Aid received Aid given Total

Fire 10.7 20.0 30.7 69.3 100.0

Overpressure Rupture/ 

Explosion (No Fire) 7.4 5.4 12.9 87.1 100.0

EMS and Rescue 2.6 3.1 5.7 94.3 100.0

Hazardous Condition (No Fire) 4.3 4.7 9.0 91.0 100.0

Service Call 1.5 5.8 7.3 92.7 100.0

Good Intent Call 2.9 12.5 15.3 84.7 100.0

False Alarm and False Call 4.2 3.6 7.8 92.2 100.0

Severe Weather/Natural 

Disaster 4.4 6.4 10.8 89.2 100.0

Special Incident Type 2.1 2.6 4.6 95.4 100.0

Overall 3.1 5.2 8.3 91.7 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

NFIRS Data specifications for overall fire department runs

Data for this report were extracted from the NFIRS Public Data Release (full, all-incident data) file for 2017 (released 

February 2019). Only Version 5.0 data were extracted.

ĵ Overall fire department runs were defined using Incident Types 100 to 911 (excluding Incident Type 110):

NFIRS major incident 

type category Description

100-173 Fire (Excludes Incident Type 110)

200-251 Overpressure Rupture/Explosion (No Fire)

300-381 EMS and Rescue

400-482 Hazardous Condition (No Fire)

500-571 Service Call

600-672 Good Intent Call

700-751 False Alarm and False Call

800-815 Severe Weather/Natural Disaster

900-911 Special Incident Type

Note: More details regarding the specific NFIRS incident types are available in the “NFIRS Complete Reference Guide,” January 2015: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/

data/nfirs/support/documentation.html.
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ĵ Additionally, the major property use categories used in this report are defined as follows: 

NFIRS major property 

use category Description

100-186 Assembly

200-256 Educational

300-365 Health Care, Detention and Correction

400-464 Residential

500-599 Stores/Businesses 

600-679 Industry

700 Manufacturing

800-899 Storage

900-984 Outside/Special Property

000 Property Use, Other

NNN None

UUU Undetermined

Note: For a complete listing of the NFIRS Property Use Codes, view the NFIRS 5.0 Complete Reference Guide: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/nfirs/support/

documentation.html (January 2015).

To request additional information, visit https://www.usfa.fema.gov/contact.html. Provide feedback on this report.

Notes: 

1The incident type is defined as the actual situation that emergency personnel found on the scene when they arrived.

2National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0 contains both converted NFIRS 4.1 data and native NFIRS 5.0 data. This topical report 

includes only incident types that reflect native 5.0 data. Incident Type 110 (structure fire, other) is not included in this analysis as it is a “conversion 

only” code. That is, Incident Type 110 is technically a version 4.1 incident and, as such, is not included in this analysis. Aid runs, usually excluded 

in incident-based analyses, are included in the data for this report.

3“Runs” or “calls” have different meanings for different fire departments. As NFIRS incident data reflects summary data from individual fire 

departments (not from individual fire stations in a fire department), a “run” or “call” as used in this topical report means the fire department’s 

collective response to an incident. “Runs” and “calls” are used interchangeably.

4The count of NFIRS runs is rounded to the nearest 100. The actual count of NFIRS runs used for the analyses in this report was 26,880,841. 

This count reflects only runs that were identified as valid and released by the states to the NFIRS. Runs with Incident Type 110 (conversion only 

code) were excluded from the analyses. By comparison, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimated that there were 34,683,500 

fire department responses in 2017 (NFPA, “Fire Loss in the United States During 2017,” October 2018).

5U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), Topical Fire Report Series, “Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the NFIRS (2016),” Volume 19, 

Issue 5 (August 2018).

6For a description of how the major incident type categories are defined in the NFIRS, refer to the section of this report regarding NFIRS data 

specifications for overall fire department runs.

7The total percentage for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Good Intent, False Alarm, and Service Call incident type categories does not 

add up to 91% due to rounding.

8USFA, Topical Fire Report Series, “Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the NFIRS (2016),” Volume 19, Issue 5 (August 2018).

9Within the major incident type categories in the NFIRS, there are many subcategories. For example, EMS Calls and Medical Assist Calls are two 

specific subcategories of the EMS and Rescue incident type category.

10“Emergency Communications,” Federal Communications Commission, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, https://www.fcc.gov/

consumers/guides/emergency-communications (accessed March 21, 2019).

11Idaho County, “Rural Addressing,” http://idahocounty.org/commissioners/rural-addressing/ (accessed March 21, 2019).

12The 2017 NFIRS data showed that of the severe weather and natural disaster runs that occurred on Mondays in September, 43% of the runs 

were located in Georgia, 26% in Florida, and 18% in South Carolina. Although there was not one specific severe weather event that caused the 

spike on Mondays in 2017, 26% of all severe weather and natural disaster runs that occurred on Mondays happened on one single day — Monday, 

September 11. Hurricane Irma impacted Florida, Georgia and South Carolina on Monday, Sept. 11. Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida as a 

Category 4 storm on the morning of Sept. 10. 
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13In this report, winter is defined as January through March; spring is defined as April through June; summer is defined as July through September; 

fall is defined as October through December.

14The regions of the U.S. are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Northeast (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New 

Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont); South (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, 

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia); Midwest

(Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin); and West (Alaska, 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming).

15U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. July 1, 2017 population estimates from Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the 

United States, Regions, States and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018 (NST-EST2018-01), Release Date: December 2018, https://www.census.

gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-national-total.html.

16USFA, Topical Fire Report Series, “Fire Department Overall Run Profile,” Volume 7, Issue 4 (December 2007).

17For a description of how the major property use categories are defined in the NFIRS, refer to the section of this report regarding NFIRS data 

specifications for overall fire department runs.

18USFA, Topical Fire Report Series, “Fire Department Overall Run Profile,” Volume 7, Issue 4 (December 2007).

19Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Resource Management and Mutual Aid, “National Mutual Aid System,” https://www.fema.

gov/resource-management-mutual-aid (accessed March 21, 2019).