Uses of NFIRS

1. Uses of NFIRS National Fire Incident Reporting System

2. Topics Covered • The History • The Users • The Uses • The Future • What we can and need to do • The software available • Conclusion

3. History of NFIRS • First came on line in 1976 • By 1977 5 states regularly reported data • By 1997 41 States were reporting • Over 14,000 departments • Estimated 44% of all fires that were responded to

4. Users of NFIRS • Local Fire Departments • State Governments • Private Industry • Private Citizen • U.S. Congress • Federal Government Agencies • Media • Insurance Companies • Law Offices • Product Manufacturers • Fire Organizations

5. Local Fire Department Uses of NFIRS • Justification of budgets • Resource allocation • Staffing decisions • Trends of problems in local areas • Comparison with State averages • Comparisons with similar communities

6. F.I.R.E. Act Grant General Questions for all Applicants Questions, page 2 of 2 9. It is also a requirement that departments receiving funding under this grant program agree to provide information to the national fire incident reporting system (NFIRS). If you receive an award, do you agree to provide information to this system? A (No) in this box was an immediate dismissal from the review process

7. Did you know this law? • Filing statement of fire occurrence in State of Maine The municipal fire chief, his designee or municipal fire inspector shall file a written report with the State Fire Marshal each month on forms provided by his office, setting forth all of the facts relating to the cause, origin and circumstances of fires occurring within his jurisdiction, along with a description of the kind, value and ownership of the property damage or destruction, with such other information as he may require. Such report shall at all times be open to public inspection, except in such instances as the Attorney General may determine that it would be detrimental to a pending criminal investigation. The State Fire Marshal’s Office no longer supplies blank paper reports. Staffing limits has made data entry impossible. Working with the Maine Fire Chiefs’ Association, the Fire Marshal now supplies electronic reporting software at no cost to fire departments in Maine

8. State Uses of NFIRS • Preparing Fire Marshal's annual report • Create Laws based on trending data • The state of Massachusetts used its NFIRS data to conduct an analysis of vehicle fires. Their report states that between 1986, when the problem was first identified, and 1989, vehicle fires outnumbered structure fires. In 1987, a new law went into place that required owners of vehicles to complete a report at fire headquarters if they experience a vehicle arson and wanted to pursue an insurance claim. In 1990 the Division of Fire Prevention issued a follow-up report based on NFIRS data to demonstrate the effectiveness of that law. It reported that motor vehicle fires dropped by 35% between 1987 and 1990 and that vehicle arsons dropped by an even more dramatic 52%.

9. U.S. Fire Administration Uses of NFIRS • The USFA uses NFIRS for: • Prioritizing the many fire issues extant in the US • Identifying aspects of the fire problem that require continued monitoring • Quantifying the costs of fire (life and property) • Preparing congressional testimony and justifying budget requests • Facilitating agency management reviews • Providing means of measuring the impact of programs and activities

10. Example of U.S.F.A.’s use of NFIRS • When it was discovered that the Southeastern region of the U.S. had the highest fire death rate of any region, USFA did a study with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Fire Research to identify the causes in greater detail. That study confirmed what had been learned through NFIRS --- that heating, especially alternative heating sources (portable space heaters) was the surprising leading cause of fire deaths in the Southeast. • Several Reports include: • Fire and Emergency Medical Services Ergonomics • Minimum Standards on Structural Fire Fighting Protective Clothing and Equipment • Firefighter Autopsy Protocol • A needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service (2002) • America Burning Revisited (1987)

11. USFA’s continued support includes • National Arson Prevention Initiative • Develop a community action program for arson prevention • Cigarette Safety Act • Data showed that careless smoking continued to be the leading cause of fire deaths

12. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Committee (CPSC) National Highway Safety Committee (NHTSA) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Disease Control (CDC) Armed Forces U.S. Commerce Department Center for Fire Research U.S. Congress U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development U.S. Department of Treasury Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Library of Congress U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Other Federal Agencies

13. CPSC • Analyzed the fire risk associated with portable space heaters, kerosene space heaters, wood stoves, metal chimneys, upholstered furniture, cigarettes, and sleepwear among other products • Child-resistant safety standard for cigarette lighters • Estimated between 80 & 105 deaths annually among children under the age of 5 would be prevented • National Smoke Detector Project • Research on potential product fire hazards and to identify the need for product recalls or product repairs • The fields “equipment involved in” and “form of heat of ignition”

14. The Center for Fire Research • NFIRS data is used to develop fire models and to conduct analysis of fire risk. • Helped to define the U.S. Fire problem • “America Burning Revisited”

15. Private Industry • Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) • Mississippi Valley Gas Company • Researched the cause of water heater fires in 1990. • The leading cause was found to be human related, not mechanical • BHP Research • Steel company from Australia studied the need for compartmentalization to stop the spread of fires in high rise and other type of buildings • NFIRS is the largest data set in the world!!

16. Courts and Law Firms • Both litigating court cases and in settling court cases • Build cases against manufacturers • Data can help protect the reputations of firms and manufacturers

17. Non-profit Fire-Related Organizations • IAFC, IAFF, IABPFF • NFIRS data can be used to generalize about the types of fires that present the greatest risk to firefighters and the type of injuries firefighter most often sustain • Investigate whether particular pieces of gear are associated with fire fighter injuries • NASFM • Investigated the effect of California’s fabric flammability standards • NFPA • Often used as the basis for articles in the Fire Journal

18. The Media • NFIRS Data has appeared in the following: • USA Today • The wall Street Journal • The New York Times • NBC-TV • Redbook • Ladies Home Journal • Fire Chief Magazine • World Book Encyclopedia • Quick Response Unit (QRU) • A public relations firm to follow news stories from all over the country • Fax and telephone information pertaining to fires for use in media stories • USFA Data has reached over 5 million readers

19. Academic and Research • 1996, USFA received requests from 15 colleges and universities • WPI, U of M, Texas A&M • In 1996 a doctoral thesis used NFIRS data • Charles Jennings, Cornell University, wrote “Urban Residential Fires: An Empirical Analysis of Building Stock and Socioeconomic Characteristics for Memphis, Tennessee.” • Combined NFIRS data with local tax assessor data and data from the Census of Population and Housing

20. Public Fire Educators • Justify funding of programs for dealing with community fire problems as they are identified.

21. The Future of NFIRS • National Fire Data Center (NFDC) • www.usfa.fema.gov/nfdc

22. Certified NFIC Vendors • Vendors who have notified the USFA when their product development has completed and has been tested to be compatible with the national NFIRS 5.0 database standard will be marked as "Active" and placed on the Active Vendor List.

23. Software Rapid Fire, Fire RMS. 5.0, Millenium 5.0, Emergency Plus, Fire Tools, CIS-FIRES, BMFT 150, Davenport IA FD, City of Port Huron, NFIRS Online, Supr FDMS, C-PLIMS, Fire Tech, Emergency Pro, Fire Scan, Fire Works for Windows, ESP Incident Reporting, Visual Fire Info, Firepoint Power Series, Essential Data Solutions, FDM Software Ltd., Fire File, Fire Programs, Fire One EnRoute Fire Reporting, HTEFire Records Management HCD Fire Management, FMS Fire Management Software IBRS Fire KOPS NFIRSModule Enhanced NFIRS 5.0 Altaris LogicsFIRE DataTrak RMSFiretrack MSC Fire Module Incident Commander Aegis Fire Records Fire Storm Genisis FireRMS Fire-Pro 2000 FireServer EIS Version 1.75 FireHelp EMBRS FIRE/Partner Fireplan NFIRS 5.0 Fire Services Information Mgmt. System FireStats Fire-Net NFIRS 5.0 FireRMS. 5.0 FireRMS 2000 FIRST-5 Vision Fire FIREHOUSE Software Software titles available

24. What we can and need to do • Input higher quality data • The quality of information generated by NFIRS is only as good as the data entered at the fire house level • Grants, training, NFA courses are depending on NFIRS data now • Correctly input data • Input more data into our forms • Property value and loss estimates • More incidents • Millions of dollars are targeted at problems identified through NFIRS

27. Incidents by day of week

32. 2002 Incident Breakdown

33. 2003 Incidents

34. Conclusion • There is a long way to go toward making even better use of NFIRS. But we have a system in place that works well. • Everyone associated with NFIRS at the local state and national levels should feel proud of the important contribution they have made. • NFIRS will continue to guide fire protection in the U.S.