R0491 Precourse

National Emergency Training Center

16825 S. Seton Avenue

Emmitsburg, MD 21727-8998

December 2023

R0491

Dear National Fire Academy Student:

Congratulations on your acceptance into the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), National Fire Academy

(NFA) “National Fire Incident Reporting System: Program Management” (NFIRS: PM) course.

The goal of this course is to enable you to successfully promote, support and manage NFIRS, including

data collection, processing, analysis and presentation of useful, timely and accurate information about fire

department activities. You should have already taken the course prerequisite: either a two-day basic level

NFIRS class in your state or the equivalent NFA Online “National Fire Incident Reporting System 5.0

Self-Study” (Q0494) course found at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfa/courses/online/self-study.html

. You

may also want to complete “Management Tools for Emergency Services Leaders” (Q0880).

efore your arrival, you will need to complete the following pre-course requirements:

1. Contact your NFIRS state program manager.

The USFA and the National Fire Information Council (NFIC) websites have state NFIRS program

manager contact information and links to various state NFIRS reporting websites. Become familiar

with your state’s NFIRS website. If your state has one available, view your state’s annual report.

Use these two websites: http://www.nfic.org/membership__contacts.html

and

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/pocs/.

2. Obtain an NFIRS user account from your state program manager. You will need an active user

account in the NFIRS online database at USFA. The account should include the following user

account permissions:

• Startup.

• Read Incidents.

• Version Updates.

• File Transfer.

• User Validation.

• Web Page Area.

• Log Retrieval.

• Report Submit.

• Report Fetch.

• Report Templates.

• Report Generate.

• Bulk Export.

• Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) Read Only.

Note: If you can’t contact your state program manager, go to the general help mailbox for NFIRS

at https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/contact/ntsc/

3. Obtain answers to the following questions from your state program manager. Bring a summary of

the answers with you to class. The responses will be collected on the first day.

• How often do they want you to report?

• Do they have any specific reporting procedures or requirements?

• What tools do they have that may help you with your NFIRS program?

• How are incident report updates handled in your state?

• Verify with your state program manager that they have valid, current data from your

jurisdiction.

4. Review the Captivate video containing instructions on how to export your transaction file in

standard format.

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/pcm/r0491/datadownload.avi or https://youtu.be/jda6L_noPXI

Note: If you use a third-party vendor, contact your system administrator to verify that your file is

in the correct format.

5. Using your NFIRS third-party software or the NFIRS Bulk Export Utility (BEU), obtain the

transaction file for your jurisdiction. This file should be one year of NFIRS data in NFIRS

transaction file format for your jurisdiction. State-level participants should bring one year of

NFIRS data from three departments.

6. Email your transaction file to nfirspm@gmail.com

. If your transaction file

is larger than 25 MB,

please send an email requesting information on how to upload your file to Google Drive.

7. R

eview NFIRS Acronyms and Definitions on the following pages, which will be the basis of a

quiz on Day 1 of the six-day course.

8. Bring your standard operating procedures (SOPs) or policies related to NFIRS, NFIRS

participation and/or NFIRS reporting.

9. Review the Captivate video, which provides an overview of PivotTables in Excel.

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/pcm/r0491/pivot.avi

10. Complete the reading assignment “The Economic Impact of Successful Commercial Fire

Interventions,” published through Arizona State University and located at

https://seidmaninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PFD-Final-Report.pdf

11. Complete the reading assignment “Conquering the ‘Unknowns’,” published through the National

Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) and located at

http://www.nfic.org/docs/NASFMFoundationFinalReportConqueringtheUnknowns.pdf.

In-class course requirements include:

• Successful completion of individual hands-on lab activities.

• Submission of individual written assignments.

• An average of 80% or better on five quizzes and a final exam.

• Completion of the final day application activity during the six-day course delivery.

You will receive a certificate after you attend class and complete the course requirements. During class,

you will begin to work on, and receive feedback about, an Individual Action Plan that you will implement

in your organization. You will have four months after class is completed to implement the action plan and

to write and submit a brief status report.

Completing the four-month status report, while not a requirement for graduation, will aid future

NFIRS program managers. USFA will collect the status reports and mail copies of them, if requested, to

any participants in NFIRS who could use the information. Finally, you will be expected to participate in

class discussions and work with other class members on group assignments.

This is a six-day class that starts on Sunday at 8 a.m. Subsequent classes will meet daily from 8 a.m. to 5

p.m., with evening classes possible. The class graduation ceremony is an important part of the course.

You are expected to attend this event. All departing travel arrangements should be made so that you do

not leave campus prior to the class graduation.

The course materials are now available in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) format that will function on

any electronic device. If you own an electronic device (laptop computer, tablet, etc.) and are familiar with

its document reader functions, we are asking you to download the Student Manual (SM) before you

travel to Emmitsburg and bring the preloaded device with you. Please see the page following this letter

for complete instructions on successfully downloading your course materials. Please note: If you plan to

bring/use an iPad, you may experience issues saving/storing/printing course assignments because there is

no USB/thumb drive capacity for these devices.

The NFA classroom environment is computer based. You are responsible for the security and

maintenance of your electronic equipment. The NFA cannot provide computer software, hardware (which

includes disks, printers, scanners, monitors, etc.), or technical support for your device. For your

convenience, we do provide surge protector power strips at each classroom table.

If you need additional information related to your course’s content or course requirements, please contact

Mr. Dan Newland, Training Program Management and Planning, and Information Management training

specialist, at 301-447-1157, or by email at daniel.newla[email protected]

. Good luck, and I hope to see

you on campus.

incerely,

Eriks J. Gabliks, Superintendent

National Fire Academy

U.S. Fire Administration

Enclosures

National Fire Academy Bring Your Own Device

Course Materials/Download Instructions

If you own an electronic device (laptop computer, tablet, etc.) and are familiar with its document reader

functions, we are asking you to download the Student Manual (SM) before you travel to class and bring

the preloaded device with you.

The first step is to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to your device. This will enable you to read and

manipulate the course materials. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be used to comment and highlight text in

PDF documents. It is an excellent tool for note-taking purposes.

For laptops and computers

Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from www.adobe.com/downloads/

. It is a free download.

Please note that depending on your settings, you may have to temporarily disable your antivirus software.

For

tablets and other similar hand-held devices

Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded onto devices such as iPads, Android tablets and other hand-

held devices. The application can be found in the device’s application store using the search function and

typing in “Adobe Acrobat Reader.” Follow the instructions given. It is a free application.

After you have successfully downloaded the Adobe Acrobat Reader, please use the following web link to

download your SM. You may copy/paste the links into your web browser.

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/sm/sm_0491.pdf

Note: In order to have the editing capabilities/toolbar, the SM needs to be opened with Adobe Acrobat

Reader. There should be a function on your device to do this.

If you need assistance, please contact nfaonlinetier2@fema.dhs.gov

PRE-COURSE ASSIGNMENTS CHECKLIST

Contact your NFIRS state program manager.

Obtain an NFIRS user account from your state program manager.

Obtain answers to the following questions from your state program manager. Bring a

summary of the answers with you to class.

• How often do they want you to report?

• Do they have any specific reporting procedures or requirements?

• What tools do they have that may help you with your NFIRS program?

• How are incident report updates handled in your state?

• Verify with your state program manager that they have valid, current data from

your jurisdiction.

Review the Captivate video at

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/pcm/r0491/datadownload.avi.

Obtain the transaction file for your jurisdiction using your NFIRS third-party software or

Bulk Export Utility (BEU).

Email your transaction file to [email protected].

Review NFIRS acronyms and definitions.

Bring your SOPs or policies related to NFIRS.

Review the Captivate video at https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/pcm/r0491/pivot.avi.

Complete the reading assignment “Economic Impact of Successful Commercial Fire

Interventions” at http://media2.abc15.com/html/pdf/ASU%20study.pdf.

Complete the reading assignment “Conquering the ‘Unknowns’” at

http://www.nfic.org/docs/NASFMFoundationFinalReportConqueringtheUnknowns.pdf.

NFIRS Acronyms and Definitions

• National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

• National Fire Data Center (NFDC).

• eNFIRS.

• NFIRS Summary Output Reports Tool (SORT).

• NFIRS Data Warehouse (DW).

• NFIRS Bulk Export Utility (BEU).

• NFIRS Bulk Import Utility (BIU).

• NFIRS 5.0 Complete Reference Guide (CRG).

eNFIRS is the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) portal and single sign-on to all eNFIRS

applications.

The NFIRS DW is a reports database that users participating in NFIRS can use to access to

local, state, tribal and national level fire incident data for analysis.

The NFIRS Web-Based Reporting User’s Guide includes step-by-step instructions to

generate, retrieve and print reports from the SORT.

The NFIRS 5.0 CRG is a line-by-line guide to the completion of an NFIRS incident report. The

guide defines each entry, explains a purpose for capturing that data element, lists codes for that

field and provides an entry example. This guide is also referred to as the NFIRS Handbook.

NFIRS News and Coding Bulletins contains short bulletins that provide coding help to fire

department personnel using NFIRS. NFIRSGrams address frequently asked questions (FAQs)

and common mistakes made when completing incident forms. Subscribe at

https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSFA/subscriber/new.

NFIRS Coding Questions Guide is a guide that provides information on coding NFIRS 5.0

incident reports in a question and answer (Q&A) format.

National Fire Information Council (NFIC) (www.nfic.org) was established in 1979 under the

original name of National Association of NFIRS States (NANS) and was then changed in 1981

to the National Fire Information Council or NFIC. The association provides NFIRS participating

states and major metropolitan areas with an organization in which to help support the existing

NFIRS system, research and implement changes to improve it, and help maintain a high level of

performance. Each state participating in NFIRS has one representative in NFIC, as does each

major metropolitan area that serves 500,000 or more people. These representatives are

responsible for incident data collection and analysis in their jurisdiction. NFIC, working closely

with the USFA NFDC, has been instrumental in implementing and supporting NFIRS

nationwide.

Insurance Services Office (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, is a provider of data,

underwriting, risk management and legal/regulatory services to property-casualty insurers and

other clients. ISO collects information useful in many aspects of insurance underwriting. That

information includes evaluations of public fire protection, flood risk, and the adoption and

enforcement of building codes in individual communities. Information on municipal services

helps the communities with their efforts to manage and mitigate their risk.

Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is an organization whose main purpose

is to improve and create accounting reporting standards or generally accepted accounting

principles (GAAP). These standards make it easier for users to understand and use the financial

records of both state and local governments.

International City Management Association (ICMA) is an association representing

professionals in local government management. The association conducts research, provides

technical assistance and training, and promotes professional local government management.

Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) is a nonprofit organization

developed by ICMA and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). It is dedicated to

assisting fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence

through self-assessment and peer review.

The CFAI is now the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE). The CPSE promotes the

continuous quality improvement of fire and emergency service agencies that serve communities

worldwide by providing training and career resource information.

Complete report is an incident report that contains all required information and all essential

information about an incident. All optional modules will be filled out on a complete incident

report.

Consequential incident is an incident that has a high dollar-loss fire, high casualties (either

civilian or firefighter) or significant environmental effects.

Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is an ongoing effort to improve products, services or

processes. These efforts can seek “incremental” improvement over time or “breakthrough”

improvement all at once.

Essential data is any data, whether it is provided via a required field or not, that provides

information or insight into the factors that contributed to the consequential or special-case

incident.

Export is retrieving your incidents data from a reporting system into an NFIRS-compatible

transaction file. You can export data from your third-party software to submit to NFIRS. You

can export data from the NFIRS national database using the BEU in eNFIRS if you need an

NFIRS-compatible transaction file of your department’s data.

Exposure fire is a fire in a building, structure, vehicle or outside property resulting from a fire

outside that building, structure, vehicle or outside property. An exposure fire requires actual fire

damage, not just smoke, heat or water.

Exposure other is a type of health exposure, such as being physically exposed to elements that

involve potential injury or death to humans. This type of exposure does not constitute an

exposure incident under NFIRS reporting. The Fire Service Casualty Module is used to

document this health exposure when addressing the severity of an injury. The exposure is

referring to a firefighter being exposed to toxic substances or harmful physical agents through

any route of entry into the body.

Import is placing/processing your incident data transaction file into an NFIRS 5.0 database. The

import may be directly into the NFIRS national database, or into a state, local or tribal NFIRS

database.

Measures of central tendency are mathematical measures that describe the center or average of

a series of numbers.

• Mean is the average calculated by adding up all the numbers and dividing the sum by the

number of numbers.

• Median is the average calculated by selecting the middle value in a list of numbers in

numerical order.

• Mode is the average calculated by the value that occurs most often. If no number is

repeated, there is no mode for the list.

Measures of dispersion measure how spread out a set of data is. Range, interquartile range and

standard deviation are the three commonly used measures of dispersion.

Nominal variable is a number used only as a name or to identify something (e.g., postal ZIP

code 78701).

Ordinal variable is a number that tells the position of something in a list (e.g., first, second,

third).

Plus-one codes are custom codes created by adding an additional character to a valid code. The

fields that support a plus-one code have a fixed maximum size that allows the potential extra

digit of the new code. A plus-one code may be implemented to allow many additional, more

specific values to be defined by local departments or states for their own uses. When a plus-one

code is imported to the NFIRS National Database, only the national length code is used for

analysis.

Reportable incident is an incident that meets the criteria outlined within NFIRS documentation

describing a specific type of incident. When a fire department responds to a call, it is a reportable

incident. A reportable incident meets the criteria outlined within NFIRS documentation

describing a specific type of incident

Required data is any data that is provided via a required field in an NFIRS reporting system.

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects by using

qualitative and quantitative techniques to drive and improve processes.

Special-case incident is an incident that has high risk for loss of life, loss of property or damage

to the environment, all of which have adverse consequences to the community.

Structures are an assembly of materials forming a construction for occupancy or use to serve a

specific purpose. This includes, but is not limited to, buildings, open platforms, bridges, roof

assemblies over open storage or process areas, tents, air-supported structures, and grandstands.

Third-party products are hardware or software products developed to work in conjunction with

the NFIRS 5.0 system by outside developers. Products may be a records management system or

incident reporting software developed by vendors or municipalities. Compatibility with related

NFIRS 5.0 design elements is essential.

Transaction file is the file layout that is required for incident data that is imported or exported

using the NFIRS system or a compatible third-party NFIRS 5.0 system.

Typical incident is an incident with minimal dollar loss, no injuries and no fatalities.

Valid report is an incident report that passes validation because data for all required fields has

been provided. Valid status incidents can be released and included in the annual public data

extract and release.