ESO Releases Fire Service Index
AUSTIN, Texas - April 8, 2025 - (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --ESO, a leading data services and software provider for EMS, fire departments, hospitals, and state and federal agencies, released its 2025 Fire Service Index, which illustrates the staggering impact of nationwide wildland fires as well as the demand for broader decontamination efforts. Now in its sixth year, the index analyzed 7,919,600 incidents from calendar year 2024 from 2,739 participating agencies nationwide that use ESO services.
“The Fire Service Index represents our commitment to protecting those who protect us,” said Antonio Fernandez, PhD, NRP, principal research scientist for ESO. “The insights we uncover can guide agencies to direct prevention resources where they're needed most. By making these data freely accessible, we're empowering fire departments nationwide to benchmark performance, identify critical trends and take proactive measures in their communities.”
Notable findings from the analysis include:
- 54,489 wildland fire incidents were reported in 2024 (up 28% year over year), totaling 1.78 million total acres burned—a 650% increase in acreage from 2023.
- Wildland fire incidents were frequent throughout most of the year—not just in warmer months.
- Fire departments continue to respond to more EMS calls than fire incidents. EMS incidents accounted for the majority of all incidents (63%), while fire responses accounted for just 3% of all calls.
- 19% of firefighters did not document a decontamination procedure (e.g. cleaning exposed areas, dry-brushing gear, using wet wipes, etc.) after fire exposure, which can drastically increase long-term health risks such as cancer.
“The intensifying frequency of wildland fires across the country is yet another reason why proper decontamination has become critical to safeguarding the health and lives of our nation's firefighters,” said Bill Gardner, executive director of fire and EMS for ESO. “We’re encouraged that 80% of departments are documenting one decontamination method after exposure, but we cannot stress enough the importance of increasing that number to 100% and establishing multiple decontamination procedures as the gold standard.”
Decontamination metrics are now available in ESO’s static benchmarking dashboards. This enhancement allows fire departments nationwide to compare themselves with peers and enables ESO to better monitor prevention effectiveness.
The release of the 2025 Fire Service Index follows ESO’s receipt of the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) V1 Compatible Badge, which ensures Fire Incident customers remain compliant with the new standard. To access the 2025 ESO Fire Service Index, click here. To learn more about ESO, visit www.eso.com.
Methodology and Limitations
The dataset for the 2025 ESO Fire Service Index report is real-world data, compiled and aggregated from 7,919,600 incidents that occurred in calendar year 2024 across the United States. There are no universal rules designed around these trends. The purpose of the Index is to be informative and directional, but it is not intended to be a scientific study—nor is it intended to be comprehensive in nature. ESO hopes this Index serves as a body of literature that adds to the discussion and conversation around best practices for each of the selected metrics to help improve community health and safety.
About ESO
ESO (ESO Solutions, Inc.) is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data. Since its founding in 2004, the company continues to pioneer innovative, user-friendly software to meet the changing needs of today’s EMS agencies, fire departments, hospitals, and state and federal offices. ESO currently serves thousands of customers across the globe with a broad software portfolio, including the state-of-the-art Logis IDS CAD solution, industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), the next-generation ePCR; ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the first-of-its-kind health care interoperability platform; ESO Fire RMS, the modern fire Record Management System; ESO Patient Registry (trauma, burn and stroke registry software); and ESO State Repository. ESO is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.eso.com.
