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District of Columbia Fire Loss and Fire Department Profile

This page presents a snapshot of District of Columbia fire losses reported through the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) in 2023.

Also included is information about District of Columbia fire departments and firefighter and home fire fatalities in 2025.


Fire departments currently registered with the National Fire Department Registry.
1
Fire departments reported NFIRS data in 2023.

NFIRS data (2023)

All fire casualties in District of Columbia

0.7
Deaths
1.8
Injuries
per 1,000 fires

In 2023, the national average for all fire casualties was 2.1 deaths and 6.4 injuries per 1,000 fires.

Residential structure fire casualties in District of Columbia

1.7
Deaths
4.4
Injuries
per 1,000 fires

In 2023, the national average for residential structure fire casualties was 5.8 deaths and 19.7 injuries per 1,000 fires.

Fires casualties by general incident type

Incident type% of deathsNational average% of injuriesNational averageFirefighter % of injuriesNational average
Structures*10073.110083.8-76.1
Structures/Residential10068.310074.5-56.3
Vehicles022.708.8-8.6
Outside03.005.6-14.1

* Structures include residential and nonresidential buildings.

Incident types

District of Columbia

EMS81.1%
False Alarms7.7%
Service Calls4.2%
Good Intent3%
Hazards2.2%
Fires1.5%
Other0.2%
Explosions0.1%
Weather0%

Table may not total 100 percent due to rounding.

National average

EMS65.2%
Good intent11.5%
False alarms7.8%
Service calls7.6%
Fires3.9%
Hazards3%
Other0.8%
Weather0.2%
Explosions0.1%

Table may not total 100% due to rounding.

Fire departments (2025)

Source: National Fire Department Registry

Fire department types

Percentage of fire departments registered with the registry by department type.

VolunteerMostly volunteerMostly careerCareer
District of Columbia%%%%
National average%%%%

Fire department specialized services

Percentage of fire departments registered with the registry that provided specialized services.

%Advanced Life Support
%Airport/Aviation
%Basic Life Support
%Departmental (in-house) training academy
%Emergency medical services (EMS) ambulance transport
%EMS nontransport response
%Fireboat
%Fire/Injury prevention/Public education
%Fire inspection/Code enforcement
%Fire investigation/Fire cause determination
%Hazardous materials team
%Juvenile firesetter intervention program
%Technical/Specialized rescue
%Vehicle extrication
%Wildfire/Wildland Urban Interface