Today, we understand that we are living in a rapidly expanding age of data and automation. The unprecedented explosion of the Internet is driving an economic boom of such proportions that many are already comparing it to another industrial revolution. The intelligent use of data and information to solve problems has taken on even more importance in today’s Information Age.
Just as data drive decisions at all levels in the corporate world, so they drive critical decisions at all levels of government. In the 1970s, the fire service partnered with state governments and the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to collect fire incident data on a massive scale. At that time, the United States had the worst fire death rate in the industrialized world, and yet no one could say with any certainty what the extent or nature of the problem was. Today, although the fire death rate in the United States has steadily declined, it is still one of the highest in the industrialized countries. Because of data collected over the past 20 years from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and from other sources, there is a much clearer understanding of the national fire problem with far better insight into the best ways to combat and control it.
NFIRS REVISED
In 1989, in a partnership with states and fire departments, the USFA began identifying enhancements for a major revision of NFIRS. Functional requirements for the revised system were developed with assistance from state, local, and national-level users of the system. New codes were developed with cooperation and assistance from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). After years of development, January 1999 marked a significant change in the way the fire service collects and uses data in the new millennium with the implementation of the system in the state of Michigan. In January 2000, 24 states were in varying stages of implementing the new NFIRS system; four others are scheduled to begin implementation by the end of the first half of 2000.
Because the NFIRS is completely voluntary in nature, state and fire departments will migrate to the system at a pace dictated by many different factors. Some of these include availability of vendor software, rewrites of computer-assisted dispatching (CAD) system interfaces in larger departments, and the availability of state funding and training resources to make the change. For many years, the NFIRS data collection will consist of hybrid data from departments and states collecting data under both the older NFIRS 4.1 standard and the newer 5.0 standard. The new NFIRS system includes the ability to accept data in the old 4.1 format as well as the new 5.0 format and integrate the two sets of data fairly seamlessly. Because of this feature, the impact of the timing of state and department transitions to NFIRS 5.0 on the system will be greatly reduced.
The revised NFIRS uses lessons learned in 20 years of data collection to focus on data needed to better understand and impact the fire problem. The revision also strives to eliminate many of the previous system’s flaws that frustrated users. Throughout the system, codes have been overhauled to make completing the incident report a clearer and more intuitive process. Additionally, NFIRS 5.0 expands the collection of data beyond fires to include the full range of fire department activities on a national scale. Whereas previous versions of the NFIRS were fire-based, the revised version is an all-incident reporting system. Additionally, NFIRS 5.0 includes much expanded utility for users at the state and fire department levels. The addition of an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) module, a Wildland Fire module, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)-sponsored Arson/Juvenile Firesetter module to the system, along with the inclusion of new department apparatus and personnel modules, ensures greater usefulness of the system.
USFA ASSISTANCE
The USFA provides states with software to manage their NFIRS data collection effort as well as documentation and other available materials at no charge on the NFIRS Web site (
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
Under the NFIRS 4.1 standard, the overall NFIRS data collection effort encompassed 43 states and 32 metropolitan jurisdictions, with a yearly average of about 13,000 fire departments participating throughout the nation. NFIRS 5.0 promises to add most if not all of the previously nonparticipating states to the system within a few years. Six states that did not participate previously are now participating or planning to participate in NFIRS 5.0 in the near future.
Over the past two decades, NFIRS data have been heavily used at the national, state, and local levels. Nationally, the NFPA uses the NFIRS database in conjunction with its annual survey of departments to produce yearly national estimates of the fire problem and conduct its own research studies. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration use NFIRS data about products and vehicles involved in the ignition of fires to discover potential fire problems and to target special studies. With the advent of the new NFIRS system, the ATF, in a joint effort with the USFA, will use NFIRS 5.0 data on intentionally set fires to gather information that will be available to fire investigators in the Arson & Explosives National Repository. The new Wildland Module in NFIRS 5.0 will, for the first time, allow information on wildland fires to be included in the overall assessment of the nation’s total fire problem.
Individual states use NFIRS to better understand the unique fire profile in their jurisdictions and as a tool to create specific targeted programs and legislation to combat their local fire problems. NFIRS 5.0 provides new and better information on known fire problems such as juvenile firesetting and better identifies combinations of factors that influence fire risk in demographic groups such as the very young and the elderly.
APPLICATION FOR LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS
The usefulness of the NFIRS at the local fire department is often overlooked. Fire departments use the NFIRS in many different ways. Many use NFIRS data to compare their fire experience with that of other departments with similar demographics. Some departments use information on the number, nature, locations, and types of responses to plan station relocations for better coverage. Most use information about the frequency of department responses to nonfire incidents, such as EMS and public assistance calls, to justify budgets to their city councils. Frequently, NFIRS data are also used to track personnel at the local fire department level. NFIRS 5.0 adds a great deal of utility for those departments that seek to track the use of equipment and personnel in a detailed fashion. The improved capturing of incident location information under the new NFIRS program will also assist departments that use graphical information systems or integrate NFIRS data with CAD systems.
Using the experience of 20 years of study of millions of fire incidents, NFIRS 5.0 was designed to focus on the problems identified over that time and to gather new and better information that can be used effectively at all levels to better manage resources and combat the fire problem. With NFIRS 5.0 data now being captured in 15 states, we will soon have better data with which to make more effective decisions.
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.
