Education and training are two critical factors to improving firefighter safety and wellness. We all know that to do our jobs effectively and safely, we need to continuously practice all fireground skills, from throwing ladders and forcing entry, to off-rope or wide-area searches and rapid intervention.
Proficiency in these skills is just one piece of the puzzle. Tracking and measuring every aspect of a call helps us better manage every incident, improve safety and performance, and illustrate value to our communities.
Systems like National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) help us track and measure the cause, origin, and severity of fires. However, is that enough to make our case for improved equipment and, more importantly, to keep us safe? Currently, there isn’t comparable data about the actions firefighters take to respond to, control and extinguish a fire.
That will change when the National Fire Operations Reporting System (N-FORS) is launched in fall of 2015. The genesis for this reporting system came from the National Fire Research Agenda and the 2011 National Fire Service Data Summit, which recognized the need for more detailed local fire department data.
When managing fireground resources, it’s critical to know what’s available and ensure that the resources deployed match the needs at the incident. The information collected through N-FORS will help a department realize their availability, capability and operational effectiveness.
“It’s not uncommon that in some areas the same resources that are sent to a shed fire are also sent to a multiple-level structure fire, which can inhibit the response time and effectiveness,” explained Michael McAdams, fire operations specialist with Emergency Performance, Inc., which developed the program. “Through N-FORS, a department will be able to know at any given time how many trucks, engines, and personnel are available and what that equipment and those people are capable of doing. As a result, they’ll be able to see how effectively the incident was handled and what, if any, changes need to be made.”
N-FORS will work in tandem with NFIRS by helping departments enhance their current fire operations. This will improve firefighter and citizen safety while minimizing property loss. It will also allow departments to benchmark themselves with each other, identifying and promoting best practices.
All the information about a department’s availability, capability and operational effectiveness will be stored in one system. This will help improve effectiveness on an incident and demonstrate value to the community, which can significantly influence decision-makers when budgets are at stake.
“N-FORS will empower community leaders to communicate effectively what the fire department is capable of doing, what they did, and how we measured our effectiveness. N-FORS empowers leaders to better serve, perform, and interact with their community,” McAdams said.
For example, as more towns and cities expand and new home developments populate the landscape, fire departments need to maintain the level of service. Data can be included in N-FORS to identify a new area’s infrastructure, including water sources and street configurations. The data can also identify response times from existing stations, which can help build the case for new or expanded stations.
In addition to functioning as an evaluation system for a department, N-FORS includes a Health and Wellness Record for individuals that provides a career catalog. This not only tallies actual incidents the firefighter has responded to each year, but reflects his or her practical knowledge. By following an individual’s call volume, N-FORS also tracks exposures to potential toxins on every incident and firefighters can input information about measures taken to reduce or eliminate risks. This will assist in long-term data monitoring as we address more health and wellness issues in the fire service.
Most importantly, N-FORS reflects the purpose of Firefighter Life Safety Initiative #7, “Create a national research agenda and data collection system that relates to the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.” The initiative encourages clear and concise communication among fire departments at local and national levels to improve firefighter safety and effectiveness.
It also supports the need and demand for better technology as outlined in Firefighter Life Safety Initiative #8, “Utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety.” N-FORS can be used on both Android and iPhone operations platforms and easily fits on a tablet, making it accessible in the field. The program is user-friendly and takes only 15 minutes to complete.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) and other leading fire service organizations recognize the benefits of N-FORS for creating a uniform national reporting system. As it is implemented and adopted around the country, we will see more standardization in many ways, from minimum training requirements for fireground operations to the vernacular used to issue commands. This will potentially improve mutual-aid response as well as the ability to transition from one department to another.
“Once people start using it, they’ll see how easy it is. The more precise the data input, the better every fire department can meet the needs of its members and its communities. It more accurately reflects what’s really happening,” McAdams explained.
The National Fire Operations Reporting System is another tool in our kit to help firefighters and departments do their jobs more efficiently, effectively and safely. Using the data will help us tell the stories of what we do and how we do it every day to keep the citizens and their properties safe.
N-FORS was developed as a partnership with the IAFF, IAFC, NIST and CFAI. Guidance and feedback during the design and development of N-FORS was provided by a group of stakeholders representing over 25 national professional and governmental fire organizations. It was funded through the AFG Fire Prevention and Safety grant program (FY2011, FY2012 and FY2013).
Mike McAdams and the team from Emergency Performance, Inc., will be at Fire Rescue International (FRI) in Atlanta, Aug. 28-29, to showcase N-FORS. Be sure to stop by and learn more about this revolutionary tool. You can also learn more at: http://911perform.org/n-fors/.
TIMOTHY S. COWAN is a deputy fire chief in Central New York and a 23-year member of the fire service. He currently oversees the fire marshal's office and has an extensive background in building and fire and life safety codes. He has served as a state advocate for the Everyone Goes Home program for six years.
