BY KENNETH O. BURRIS, JR.
During the past year, there has been much discussion about data and the absence of it. I don’t know that there is an absence of data as much as there are massive amounts of data that have been collected but reside in many different locations across the country, making them difficult to coordinate and fully use.
The following are only a few examples of the diverse fire-oriented data sets that exist: the Insurance Services Office’s data on fire protection rating districts and subsequent GEO coding of fire station locations; the USFA’s data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS); the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s firefighter fatality data; the National Fire Protection Association’s data on fire in the United States, collected through statistical sampling; and the current Firefighter Mobilization Plan effort of South Carolina to create a data set that contains the resources found in each fire department in the state.
THE VALUE OF DATA
The true beauty of a data set resides in its ability to be analyzed so that we can determine the secrets locked up in the data, scrutinize the validity of the sample set, and run hypotheses against that set for the purpose of determining whether such hypotheses are void or supportive. The beauty of statistics is that they turn data into information, usefully or not.
The Fire Administration faces two challenges when it comes to data: turning the data into useful information and using that information to direct national programmatic efforts. The USFA is now bolstering the effort to turn data into information. Over the years, massive amounts of data have been collected using the NFIRS. Yet, only recently has there been a renewed emphasis on turning that data into useful information. The hiring of a statistician during 1998 and the addition of a second statistician in 2000 are indications of the USFA’s commitment to provide useful information to the nation’s fire service from the data the fire departments input into that system.
I am not saying that the data are currently not being used. Quite the contrary. Some wonderful documents have been and continue to be created by using the NFIRS data set. Most notable among them is “Fire in the United States.” This document, produced through the efforts of the USFA’s National Fire Data Center, provides a 10-year statistical overview of the fires in the United States with a focus on the latest year for which data were available at the time of preparation. The purpose of the document is to provide information that will motivate corrective action, the setting of priorities, and the targeting of specific fire programs and that will serve as a baseline for evaluating programs.
I am saying that we are not taking full advantage of the existing data sets that deal with the fire service and the nation’s fire problem. A National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report on firefighter fatality research was presented at the Fire Service Leadership Conference on October 27, 2000. The presentation included an interesting chart displaying the following regarding firefighter fatalities by the number of firefighters in the department:
- Departments with fewer than 100 firefighters account for 50 percent.
- Departments with 101 to 500 firefighters account for eight percent.
- Departments with more than 500 firefighters account for 42 percent.
Looking at the distribution of that data set begs further analysis to determine causality and relationship. In our effort to understand how we can reduce firefighter deaths, something or some situation is obviously favoring those departments with 10 to 500 firefighters. These data should certainly be turned into information that can be used to develop programs to reduce firefighter deaths.
USING DATA TO SET GOALS
Are we using the data being provided to direct our programmatic efforts? Is the USFA creating value in the information it provides from the data it collects? These represent our direction for the future. In setting the USFA goals for the future, which I will discuss more in depth in next month’s issue, a critical relationship exists between what the data reveal and the goals established.
Our future programmatic efforts will be well grounded in identifiable problems according to the data provided by the nation’s fire service. Program teams, with the assistance of the data and information team members, will design products that best address these problems. But, just as importantly, our new efforts will not be implemented without a valid instrument by which to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts in addressing the problem.
An example of using data and information to direct efforts is, again, the firefighter fatality study. The study indicates the second leading cause of firefighter deaths is accidents responding to and returning from calls. To make an impact on firefighter deaths, we must address this subject. Yet, few significant national programmatic efforts are underway to address this known problem. There will be an effort to address this problem in the future.
It really is about placing value in the data collected and the information derived from it. By not directing efforts toward identified problems through data analysis, the USFA dismisses the value found through the process. And, if we dismiss such value of the data and their resulting information, then why should we expect others in the fire service to value it?
Data turned into information is the rudder that guides an organization and, as such, it is critical to organizational success. For the U.S. Fire Administration to be successful, it is critical that the nation’s fire service participate in the reporting process so we can correctly identify the national fire problem and begin to direct efforts toward making a difference.
KENNETH O. BURRIS, JR., is the chief operating officer of the U.S. Fire Administration. He retired as fire chief from the City of Marietta, Georgia. He has an MPA from Kennesaw State University and a bachelor’s degree in fire protection and safety engineering technology from the University of Cincinnati. He formerly served as treasurer of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
