- Author
- Federal Emergency Management Agency | U.S. Fire Administration
- Title
- Uses of NFIRS. The Many Uses of the National Fire Incident Reporting System.
- Coporate
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC U.S. Fire Administration, Washington, DC
- Report
- FA 171, June 1997, 24 p.
- Keywords
- NFIRS | information dissemination | fire data
- Identifiers
- state uses of NFIRS; local uses of NFIRS; U.S. Fire Administration uses of NFIRS; other federal agency usesof NFIRS; U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission uses of NFIRS; Center for Fire Research; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; private industry uses of NFIRS; courts and law firms; nonprofit fire-related organizations; media; academic and research institutions; public fire educators
- Abstract
- The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is an information system initiated and supported by the U.S. Fire Administration. The U.S. Fire Administration developed NFIRS as a means of assessing the nature and scope of the fire problem in the U.S. The system first came on line in 1976, and since then it has grown in both participation and use. This report is an attempt to capture the many ways that NFIRS data are used and the many types of organizations that benefit from its availability. These organizations include: 1. agencies within the fire service itself, such as local fire departments, State Fire Marshal's offices and the U.S. Fire Administration; 2. other agencies of the federal government, such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and 3. private industry organizations, including national associations for home appliance product manufacturers and the hotel and motel industry, insurance companies, attorneys and many others. Because access to NFIRS is so widespread it is impossible to report every use of the data. Instead, this report will give readers a sense of the many uses and users of the information available in NFIRS. How NFIRS Works: The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Information Council (NFIC) jointly manage NFIRS. NFIC is a users' group comprised of volunteers who donate their time to maintain the existing system and research and implement changes to improve it. The members of NFIC come from state agencies and metropolitan fire departments responsible for fire data collection and analysis. As federal budgets have been reduced, the role of NFIC has expanded. Due to the extraordinary commitment of the members of this council to NFIRS, as well as the ongoing support of USFA, the system maintains its high level of performance.