Oklahoma · NERIS
What changed for Oklahoma fire departments when NERIS replaced NFIRS
Oklahoma's fire departments split unevenly by type: mostly volunteer, a little career, and not much in between. NERIS asks the same questions of whichever one answers the call.
Fire departments in Oklahoma
- Departments in the directory
- 939
- Volunteer departments
- 83%
- Volunteer or combination
- 94%
- Stations
- 1,348
640 of 774 departments that report a department type
724 of 774 departments that report a department type
reported by 834 departments
Across the 842 Oklahoma departments that report staffing, the directory holds 12,500 volunteer firefighters and 5,254 career firefighters; 70% of those counted are volunteers.
Source: the NERIS public department directory, as mirrored in our departments table on July 28, 2026. Percentages are stated against the number of departments that actually reported the field, which is always shown next to them. Departments that reported nothing are not counted as zero and no figure here is estimated.
Mostly one or the other, not in between
Oklahoma’s directory lists 939 fire departments. Of the 774 that report a department type, 640 are volunteer, 84 are combination, and 50 are career. That’s not a state where paid and volunteer staff blend evenly inside the same houses — it sorts to one end or the other. Combination departments, the ones running any paid staff alongside volunteers, are the smallest of the three groups by a wide margin. Most Oklahoma departments are either almost entirely volunteer or almost entirely career, with comparatively few landing anywhere in the middle.
Who’s actually filing the report
Staffing counts tell a related story from a different angle. Across the 842 departments that report firefighter numbers, the directory counts 12,500 volunteers against 5,254 career firefighters, with volunteers outnumbering career staff better than two to one. Add in the buildings: 834 of Oklahoma’s departments also report a station count, totaling 1,348 stations between them. Every one of those stations can put a unit on a call, and every unit that responds needs its own NERIS record, whether the crew writing it up gets a paycheck for the week or not.
One field worth naming and leaving alone: only 276 of Oklahoma’s 939 departments have a population-protected number on file, adding up to 2,057,947, thinner than type, station, and staffing manage in the same directory.
Test it on a run you already made
The way to know if this fits is to try it on something that already happened. Talk through one incident the way you’d describe it to the crew coming on next, read back the report it turns into, and decide for yourself. That first pass doesn’t ask for a NERIS login, and it doesn’t touch your department’s roster.
Worth knowing about Oklahoma
Oklahoma's directory lists 939 fire departments. Of the 774 that report a department type, 640 are volunteer, 84 are combination, and 50 are career.
Source: snapshot: OK.department_count, OK.by_department_type, OK.departments_with_type_data
Combination departments are the smallest of the three types among Oklahoma's typed departments — 84, next to 640 volunteer and 50 career — so most departments sit at one end of the staffing model, not in the middle.
Source: snapshot: OK.by_department_type, OK.departments_with_type_data
Across the 842 Oklahoma departments that report staffing, the directory counts 12,500 volunteer firefighters against 5,254 career — volunteers outnumber career firefighters better than two to one.
Source: snapshot: OK.firefighters_volunteer_sum, OK.firefighters_career_sum, OK.departments_with_staffing_data
834 of Oklahoma's 939 departments report a station count, adding up to 1,348 stations between them.
Source: snapshot: OK.station_count_sum, OK.departments_with_station_data, OK.department_count
Only 276 of Oklahoma's 939 departments have a population-protected number on file, adding up to 2,057,947 — thinner than the type, station, and staffing fields manage in the same directory.
Source: snapshot: OK.population_protected_sum, OK.departments_with_population_data, OK.department_count
What changed
NERIS replaced NFIRS as the federal fire incident reporting standard onFebruary 1, 2026. It is a different shape of report, not a renamed one: modules instead of flat forms, a three-level text hierarchy instead of numeric incident codes, and an API instead of a file you upload.
What actually changed, in detail · NERIS onboarding (FSRI) · Department sign-up
About grant applications
An AFG application — Assistance to Firefighters Grants — asks a department to lay out its run history and how it's staffed. Whether NERIS reporting factors into how that application is judged isn't something we can confirm from anything in this project, and we won't pretend otherwise; that answer sits with the grant program, not with us. Separate from any of that, one thing holds regardless of what AFG does or doesn't ask for: a department that already has its incidents on record can answer those questions in an afternoon. One that doesn't is starting from a blank page.
We are a vendor, not a grant advisor. Do not take our word for what any grant program requires. Read the current notice of funding opportunity or ask your state's grant coordinator.
Try it on a real Oklahoma call
Record one incident, read the report it produces, and decide from there. No account, no card, no call with anyone.
FireMic is a private company. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or recommended by any Oklahoma state agency, USFA, FSRI, or FEMA. State fire officials do not endorse vendors, and nothing on this page should be read as suggesting otherwise.
Department figures: FireMic Supabase departments table (mirror of the NERIS public department directory, ArcGIS layer 0). Snapshot taken July 28, 2026.