📊 Data Report

Data & Reports

Which Hazmat Materials Trigger the Most Fire Department Responses? A 10-Year Federal Data Analysis (2015–2024)

An original analysis of 10 years of U.S. DOT/PHMSA hazardous materials incident reports, isolating the incidents that actually triggered a fire department or EMS response.

Data reference only. Figures summarize federal transportation incident reports and do not include fixed-facility incidents. Always follow SOP/SOG and the current ERG for incident-specific actions.

Written by

Ertuğrul Öz

Reviewed by

Koray Korkut

Last reviewed

Jul 19, 2026

Source checked

Jul 19, 2026

Ertuğrul Öz

Firefighter Sergeant, Ankara Metropolitan Fire | Training & Operations

Koray Korkut

Fire Department Director, Karabük | Hazmat, CBRN, Incident Command

Key Findings

Of 4,008 hazardous materials transportation incidents classified as "serious" by PHMSA between 2015 and 2024, 1,306 (32.6%) involved a fire department or EMS response. Gasoline and diesel fuel alone account for roughly 1 in 4 of those responses.

This report is built from the DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's Form 5800.1 incident report data, compiled and maintained in clean CSV format by the Data Liberation Project. It reflects transportation incidents only — spills, leaks, fires, and releases during highway, rail, air, and water shipment. It does not include fixed-facility, industrial-site, or non-transportation hazmat incidents, which are tracked separately and are not part of this dataset.

The goal of this page is to answer a practical question for first-due crews and training officers: when a hazmat call actually generates a fire department response in the real world, what is most likely to be involved, and how has that changed over time?

Methodology

Source: DOT/PHMSA Hazardous Materials Incident Report (Form 5800.1), filtered to reports PHMSA classifies as "serious incidents" (a designation based on fatality, injury, evacuation, major artery closure, or bulk release thresholds).

Data compiled from the Data Liberation Project's public archive of PHMSA incident data, covering incidents from 1971 through mid-2025. This report analyzes the 2015–2024 window (4,008 serious incidents) to reflect current conditions.

A response was counted as involving the fire service when PHMSA's "Fire/EMS Report Indicator" field was marked Yes on the incident report, meaning a fire department and/or EMS report number was filed alongside the hazmat incident report.

Limitation: this dataset covers hazardous materials incidents during transportation only. It excludes fixed-facility releases, industrial process incidents, and non-transportation spills, which are reported through separate channels (e.g., EPA, state agencies).

Headline Numbers (2015–2024)

Serious hazmat transport incidents4,008

Incidents with a Fire/EMS response1,306 (32.6%)

Incidents requiring evacuation347 (26.6% of Fire/EMS incidents)

Total people evacuated50,265

Responders hospitalized13

Responders with non-hospitalized injury45

Responder fatalities0

Top 15 Materials by Fire/EMS Response Count

1. UN 1203 — Gasoline263 incidents · 16.1% of Fire/EMS responses

2. UN 1993 — Flammable Liquid, N.O.S. (mostly diesel fuel shipments; catch-all code covers many products)177 incidents · 9.5%

3. UN 1075 — Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)96 incidents · 5.3%

4. UN 1267 — Petroleum Crude Oil79 incidents · 6.0%

5. UN 1987 — Denatured Alcohol46 incidents · 2.9%

6. UN 1005 — Ammonia, Anhydrous35 incidents · 2.7%

7. UN 1789 — Hydrochloric Acid29 incidents · 2.2%

8. UN 3077 — Environmentally Hazardous Substance, Solid, N.O.S.25 incidents · 1.9%

9. UN 1791 — Hypochlorite Solution23 incidents · 1.8%

10. UN 1202 — Fuel Oil / Gas Oil22 incidents · 1.7%

11. UN 3082 — Environmentally Hazardous Substance, Liquid, N.O.S.19 incidents · 1.5%

12. UN 1830 — Sulphuric Acid18 incidents · 1.4%

13. UN 3109 — Organic Peroxide Type F17 incidents · 1.3%

14. UN 2031 — Nitric Acid16 incidents · 1.2%

15. UN 1824 — Sodium Hydroxide Solution16 incidents · 1.2%

By DOT Hazard Class

Class 3 — Flammable Liquids700 incidents · 53.6%

Class 8 — Corrosives212 incidents · 16.2%

Class 2.1 — Flammable Gases142 incidents · 10.9%

Class 9 — Miscellaneous70 incidents · 5.4%

Class 2.2 — Non-Flammable Gases48 incidents · 3.7%

Class 5.1 — Oxidizers39 incidents · 3.0%

Class 2.3 — Toxic Gases23 incidents · 1.8%

Class 5.2 — Organic Peroxides19 incidents · 1.5%

Class 7 — Radioactive13 incidents · 1.0%

Class 6.1 — Toxic Substances12 incidents · 0.9%

Mode of Transportation

Highway1,057 incidents · 80.9%

Rail235 incidents · 18.0%

Air12 incidents · 0.9%

Water2 incidents · 0.2%

Top 10 States by Fire/EMS Response Count

1. Texas98

2. California78

3. North Carolina68

4. Ohio67

5. Illinois56

6. Georgia51

7. Pennsylvania51

8. Florida46

9. Tennessee42

10. New York41

Yearly Trend

2015605 serious incidents · 203 with Fire/EMS response (33.6%)

2016445 serious incidents · 151 with Fire/EMS response (33.9%)

2017461 serious incidents · 131 with Fire/EMS response (28.4%)

2018598 serious incidents · 223 with Fire/EMS response (37.3%)

2019463 serious incidents · 189 with Fire/EMS response (40.8%)

2020328 serious incidents · 114 with Fire/EMS response (34.8%)

2021260 serious incidents · 68 with Fire/EMS response (26.2%)

2022271 serious incidents · 59 with Fire/EMS response (21.8%)

2023285 serious incidents · 83 with Fire/EMS response (29.1%)

2024292 serious incidents · 85 with Fire/EMS response (29.1%)

Responder Impact — Read With Caution

Across the full 2015–2024 window in this transportation-incident dataset, PHMSA records show zero responder fatalities, 13 hospitalized responders, and 45 non-hospitalized responder injuries. This is a small sample and should not be read as a comprehensive safety record — it reflects only transportation incidents meeting PHMSA's serious-incident threshold, not the full universe of hazmat calls firefighters run every year.

The near-miss and injury data most relevant to day-to-day risk (fixed-facility exposures, unreported minor exposures, near-misses) live outside this dataset entirely. Treat this section as a floor, not a ceiling.

Related References

UN 1203 — Gasoline UN 1075 — LPG UN 1267 — Petroleum Crude Oil UN 1987 — Denatured Alcohol UN 1005 — Ammonia, Anhydrous UN 1789 — Hydrochloric Acid UN 1791 — Hypochlorite Solution UN 1830 — Sulphuric Acid UN 1824 — Sodium Hydroxide Solution UN 1170 — Ethyl Alcohol Solution UN 1263 — Paint Related Material DOT Class 3 — Flammable Liquids DOT Class 8 — Corrosives DOT Class 2 — Gases PPE Level Selection Air Monitoring Action Levels

Official Sources

PHMSA Hazmat Incident Data & Statistics →Data Liberation Project — PHMSA Hazmat Incident Reports (raw data) →PHMSA Data Dictionary (Form 5800.1 fields) →PHMSA Serious Incident Definition →

Official sources are linked for verification. This page is a firefighter training reference, not legal, medical, or product endorsement advice.

FAQ — PHMSA Fire/EMS Analysis

U.S. DOT PHMSA's Hazardous Materials Incident Report (Form 5800.1), covering transportation-related hazmat incidents. Data was compiled from the Data Liberation Project's public archive and filtered to PHMSA's own "serious incident" classification for 2015–2024.

No. This dataset covers transportation incidents only — highway, rail, air, and water shipment. Fixed-facility releases and industrial process incidents are reported through separate channels and are not part of this analysis.

This report measures frequency of Fire/EMS response, not severity or hazard level per incident. Gasoline and diesel rank highest because they are transported in enormous volume on highways, making transportation incidents statistically more likely — not because they are more dangerous per-incident than corrosives or toxic gases.

PHMSA's underlying data is updated on a rolling basis as incident reports are processed and finalized. This page will be reviewed and refreshed periodically as new full-year data becomes available.

Yes. This is original analysis of public federal data, intended as a citable reference for training officers, journalists, and other fire service resources. Please link back to this page as the source of the analysis.