NERIS – Ember Fire

What Does This Mean for Ember Fire Users?

With the recent release of the NERIS data standard in early 2024, our dedicated development team at Ember Fire has already begun integrating these changes into our platform. This ensures that your department will be compliant with the latest standards and can seamlessly transition to the new system.

Key Benefits:

Immediate Access: Ember Fire will connect to NERIS through our robust API, providing instant access to national-level data from the USFA in a cloud-based system.
Streamlined Processes: The connection to NERIS will eliminate the need for the current NFIRS data export process, making your operations more efficient.
Enhanced Data Gathering: The new incident data gathering elements will be incorporated into Ember Fire, ensuring comprehensive and accurate reporting.

NFIRS will remain operational until the end of 2025, ensuring a smooth transition period to NERIS. As more information from the USFA becomes available, we will keep you updated and ensure your department is always equipped with the latest tools and standards.

At Ember Fire, we are committed to supporting your department through this transition and beyond. Should you have any questions or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at [your contact information].

Whats New in NERIS: Hazmat to Hazsit!

NFIRS to NERIS Transition: Enhanced Hazmat Module

With the transition from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) to the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), several modules are undergoing significant enhancements. The NFIRS Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) module is now evolving into the more comprehensive HazSit module in NERIS.

HazSit Module: Expanded Capabilities

The new HazSit module not only retains the functionalities of the former Hazmat module but also introduces advanced features to improve incident management and safety:

Comprehensive Hazardous Materials Reporting: HazSit module continues to provide detailed reporting on hazardous materials incidents, ensuring accurate and thorough documentation.
Firefighter Exposure Tracking: A critical addition to the HazSit module is the Firefighter Exposure Tracking submodule. This new feature focuses on monitoring and documenting exposures that firefighters encounter during hazardous materials incidents. By tracking this vital data, departments can better protect their personnel, implement safety measures, and ensure long-term health monitoring.

These enhancements in the HazSit module reflect NERIS's commitment to improving incident reporting, increasing firefighter safety, and providing more robust tools for managing hazardous situations.

Introducing the Emerging Hazards Module in NERIS!

As part of the transition from NFIRS to NERIS, the new Emerging Hazards Module represents a significant advancement in how fire departments address and manage unforeseen threats. This dynamic module supports the all-hazards approach, ensuring that departments are equipped to handle a wide range of new and evolving challenges.

It focuses on new threats that have become increasingly relevant due to technological and infrastructural advancements. Current emerging hazards addressed in this module include:

- Battery-Powered Vehicles and Solar Panels
- Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST)

The Emerging Hazards Module not only addresses specific new threats but also significantly enhances the overall capture of operational data. This includes detailed documentation of various aspects of incident management, such as suppression techniques, ventilation efforts, and on-scene contamination. By incorporating these comprehensive data points, the module provides a more complete and nuanced understanding of each incident, enabling fire departments to refine their strategies and improve their response effectiveness.

Suppression Techniques: Modernizes the way fire departments capture data on suppression efforts, allowing for a more thorough analysis and improvement of techniques.
Ventilation Efforts: Detailed documentation of ventilation efforts provides insights into effective strategies for managing hazardous atmospheres.
On-Scene Contamination: Tracks and analyzes on-scene contamination incidents to develop better decontamination procedures and protect both responders and the public.

The Emerging Hazards Module is designed to keep fire departments up-to-date with industry changes and modernize the capture of comprehensive operational data. Benefits of the Emerging Hazards Module:

Dynamic and Adaptive: The module is designed to adapt to new and unforeseen hazards, ensuring that fire departments can stay ahead of emerging threats.
All-Hazards Approach: Supports a comprehensive approach to emergency management, addressing a wide range of potential incidents.
Enhanced Safety and Efficiency: By capturing detailed operational data, the module helps improve response strategies, enhance safety protocols, and increase overall operational efficiency.

Whats New in NERIS: Enhanced Tracking of Rescues & Casualties

The transition from NFIRS to NERIS brings significant enhancements, particularly in how rescues and casualties are tracked. In NERIS, the current NFIRS firefighter and civilian casualty modules will be split into four distinct modules to provide more detailed and accurate data.

Four Distinct Modules in NERIS

Firefighter Rescue:

Detailed Mayday Tracking: This module focuses on capturing comprehensive information about mayday calls involving firefighters, including the context, response actions, and outcomes.
Rescue Operations Data: Tracks the specifics of rescue operations involving firefighters, including techniques used, challenges encountered, and success rates.
Injury Prevention Insights: Analyzing rescue data helps identify patterns and develop strategies to prevent injuries during firefighter rescue operations.

Firefighter Casualty:

Injury and Fatality Details: Provides detailed tracking of injuries and fatalities among firefighters, including the nature, severity, and cause of each incident.

Comprehensive Incident Reports: Offers in-depth reports on casualty incidents, helping departments understand the circumstances leading to injuries and fatalities.

Safety Protocol Enhancements: Data analysis from this module informs improvements in safety protocols, training, and best practices to protect firefighters.

Civilian Rescue:

Rescue Operations for Civilians: This module captures detailed information on rescue operations involving civilians, including the methods used and the challenges faced.

Incident Circumstances: Tracks the specific conditions and factors that led to the need for civilian rescues.

Outcome Analysis: Provides insights into the success rates and areas for improvement in civilian rescue operations.

Civilian Casualty:

Injury and Fatality Data: Focuses on recording detailed information about civilian injuries and fatalities, including the causes and contexts of each incident.

Detailed Reporting: Offers comprehensive reports on casualty incidents involving civilians, providing valuable data for analysis.

Community Safety Improvements: Helps departments develop targeted safety measures and public education campaigns to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

Benefits of the New Modules:

Enhanced Data Granularity: Splitting the modules allows for more precise and detailed tracking of specific types of incidents and outcomes.

Improved Analysis and Reporting: Departments can generate more comprehensive and insightful reports, leading to better understanding and management of incident data.

Targeted Safety and Training Improvements: By analyzing the detailed data from these modules, fire departments can enhance their safety protocols, training programs, and community outreach efforts to reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities for both firefighters and civilians.

How NERIS Supplements Data & Reporting.

Instead of predominantly relying on data reported by departments, NERIS will aggregate information from various federal databases, encompassing areas such as census data, weather, GIS, traffic, and more. It will also interface with individual fire departments’ computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems and potentially even radio communications. This connectivity allows NERIS to automatically gather critical metrics and incident details, reducing the need for manual data entry and enhancing the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the reports.

Weather Module: The weather module in NERIS integrates real-time weather data into department reports, enhancing situational awareness and operational planning. This module provides historical and forecast weather data, enabling departments to analyze incident patterns related to weather conditions and improve response strategies.

GIS Module: The GIS (Geographic Information System) module enhances spatial analysis by integrating geographic data with incident reports. This allows departments to visualize incident locations, analyze spatial patterns, and optimize resource allocation. GIS capabilities support strategic planning and operational efficiency by providing detailed maps and spatial analytics.

Parcel Data: Integrating parcel data into NERIS provides detailed property information for incident locations. This includes ownership, land use, and structural details, which are crucial for pre-incident planning and post-incident analysis. Parcel data helps in identifying high-risk areas, planning fire prevention activities, and improving response strategies by providing comprehensive property information.

Together, these modules enable fire departments to make data-driven decisions, improve response times, and enhance overall operational effectiveness.

NERIS Will Replace the Existing FDID System!

Introduction of a 10-Digit Alpha-Numeric Identifier: As users and entities are onboarded into NERIS, each will be issued a unique 10-digit alpha-numeric identifier, replacing the traditional FDID numbers previously used in NFIRS.

Identifier Structure:

First Two Digits: Indicate the entity type (e.g., "FD" for fire department).

Middle Five Digits: Numeric code representing the entity’s geographic location based on FIPS.

Final Three Digits: Randomly generated to ensure uniqueness among entities of the same type in the same location.

Benefits:

Elimination of Duplicates: Guarantees each department has a unique identifier.

Geographic Insight: Encodes geographic information within the ID, enhancing data management.

Streamlined Onboarding: Simplifies the process of integrating new users and entities into the system.

By implementing this new identification system, NERIS enhances the accuracy and utility of department data, providing a more detailed geographic context and ensuring that every identifier is unique.

Enhanced Incident Type Reporting with NERIS

Expansion to Multiple Incident Types: NERIS will allow fire departments to report up to three incident types per event, compared to the single incident type permitted by NFIRS.

Benefits:

Comprehensive Data: Captures the full scope of complex incidents where multiple situations occur simultaneously (e.g., a fire leading to hazardous material release).
Improved Analysis: Facilitates more detailed and nuanced data analysis, leading to better insights and trend identification.
Enhanced Resource Allocation: Helps departments allocate resources more effectively by understanding all aspects of an incident.

By accommodating multiple incident types, NERIS provides a richer and more accurate picture of emergency responses, ultimately leading to improved decision-making and operational efficiency.

Practical Example

Consider an incident where a fire occurs in a building storing hazardous materials, leading to a chemical spill and subsequent injuries. With NERIS, the incident can be reported under:

Primary Incident Type: Structure Fire
Secondary Incident Type: Hazardous Material Release
Tertiary Incident Type: Medical Emergency

This multi-faceted reporting ensures that all critical aspects of the incident are documented, leading to improved resource allocation, better incident analysis, and enhanced overall response strategies.

Exciting New Modules in NERIS: A Leap Beyond NFIRS!

The upcoming National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) is set to revolutionize fire incident reporting with the introduction of innovative modules not seen in the current National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). These new modules will include comprehensive Risk Reduction and Community Resilience tools, allowing departments to document and analyze efforts to mitigate risks and enhance community safety.

Incident Analysis: The Incident Analysis module in NERIS is designed to capture comprehensive data for in-depth analysis of incident trends, investigations, and outcomes. This module allows fire departments to delve into the specifics of each incident, identifying patterns and areas for improvement. By leveraging this detailed data, departments can enhance their investigative processes, refine response strategies, and ultimately improve safety and efficiency in their operations.

Community Risk Reduction: NERIS introduces the Community Risk Reduction module to collect information that supports targeted risk mitigation strategies within communities. This module enables fire departments to identify and address vulnerabilities specific to their areas, fostering proactive measures to prevent incidents before they occur. By focusing on community-specific risks, departments can implement tailored interventions, educate the public, and build a safer, more resilient community.

Health and Safety: Focusing on the health and safety metrics vital for protecting first responders and the public, the Health and Safety module in NERIS is a significant advancement. This module tracks crucial health and safety data, ensuring that departments can monitor the well-being of their personnel and the communities they serve. By providing real-time insights into health and safety conditions, this module helps departments implement best practices, reduce risks, and maintain a high standard of care and protection for everyone involved.

NERIS is Coming in 2025!