1. Dancing In A Hurricane
Data
Data
Data
Data

2. 5 POINTS
EVERY NATIONAL DATABASE ISSUE:
Medical - the Int’l Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)
FBI NIBRS incidents (Fire / Police incidents probably the fairest comparison because they are both incident based)
NFIRS – what it does and how it is reported and used
I need more information, what can I do?
What are you going to do, Onieal?
My ask of you

3. MEDICINE – Int’l Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD)
1980
YEAR
ICD-10
2015
3,900
Procedure Codes
72,000
14,000
Diagnosis Codes
70,000
3 digits
Code Length
7 digits

4. FBI Director James Comey
“…After riots broke out in Ferguson, I asked my staff to tell me how many people shot by police were African-American in this country. I wanted to see trends. I wanted to see information. They couldn’t give it to me, and it wasn’t their fault. Demographic data regarding officer-involved shootings is not consistently reported to us. (FBI.GOV)

5. Incident Based Data – NFIRS v NIBRS
NFIRS (fire)
NIBRS (crime)
Both are voluntary, incident based systems
1999*
Started
1989
24,200 out of 30,000 / 80%
6,115 out of 18,200 / 34%
Departments
Metro Sized
Departments
Almost all
Few 1*
Forms
13*

6. THE CONSEQUENCES OF FORCED DATA
The explosion of STDs
Compstat and Highway Therapy

7. NFIRS IS A DATA STANDARD
It is NOT hardware
or software

8. Today’s NFIRS Capabilities
Common data set for the country
FDs - same language, same terms. Critical in information management.
25 million responses, 50 States, 25,000+ fire departments.
Categorizes and apportions YOUR local workload for current and future resource allocation.
Integrates with CAD, training, inspection systems, apparatus, inventory, personnel, other city / county data (e.g. GIS, Permits, EMS billing), AVL, hydrant location, chemical databases)

9. This data is available anytime you want it to TELL YOUR STORY:
To identify daily, weekly, monthly patterns
To identify your local issues / challenges
To justify budgets
To justify staffing
LOCAL R E S P O N
DATA S TA T E
Uses data to identify annual State trends – State legislation / programs / target areas. F E D
Uses to identify national trends –legislation / programs / CPSC / DoT.

10. UNDENIABLE FACTS
The purpose of NFIRS is to tell your story, to identify your local all-hazards problem to your local elected officials and the public. It is available anytime you want to tell your story if input is accurate and complete.
You can collect any data you want in addition to your NFIRS software – but it is always about the accuracy of data entry – WHO is entering the data.
You can change to the most advanced, sophisticated, data rich system in the world – it is ALWAYS about that person doing the data entry.

11. HARDWARE
AND
SOFTWARE
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU DO TO THIS

12. IF THIS ISN’T RIGHT
THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT

13. YOU’RE STRONG We’re Strong ACCURATE DATA IN INPUT PROCESS S T A E
OUTPUT S T A E
ACCURATE
INFORMATION OUT
GOOD DECISIONS F E D

14. We’re all WEAK and VULNERABLE BAD DATA IN INPUT PROCESS S T A E OUTPUT
INFORMATION OUT
BAD DECISIONS S T A E F E D

15. The threat you face isn’t coming from the “City-Stat” people
Municipal Data
The threat you face isn’t coming from the “City-Stat” people
It’s the citizen with a grudge who is constantly seeking out organizational weaknesses
It’s the disgruntled employee who knows your data weaknesses
It’s the local reporter trying to build a reputation
Local response data and analysis is your strongest defense or your biggest weakness – you decide

16. ….BUT I NEED MORE DATA
By working with your software vendor, you can add to NFIRS software to collect more data and more complex data. Ask yourself:
At what cost?
How accurate (and collectable!!) will that data INPUT be? (The data entry issue…)
What decisions are you going to make with the additional data?

17. There is always someone, somewhere willing to sell you the latest software
You have to consider the cost of software and staff training
The continued cost of maintenance
And the value of the additional information - cost / benefit?

18. Design a brand new NFIRS system?
Major software change cost to every fire department, and all 50 States. May affect the integration of other applications (CAD, AVL, training, etc)
Universal agreement on what the changes / improvements would be? We know what we have now. Have we EVER had a shortage of opinions in the Fire Service?
We know the challenges of a new system – ICD-10 and the current DOJ experience with the voluntary NIBRS system.

19. Here’s What’s Going On Nationally
YEAR
INCIDENTS (M)
FD’S REPORTING
2015
25.3
24,200
2014
24.2
23,843
2013
23.1
23,719
2012
22.4
23,711
2011
22.8
23,731
2010
22.2
23,639
Incidents are up
More FDs are joining the system
About 94-95% of all incidents – 1 form ** (fires down)

20. We understand the two principal issues with NFIRS:
COMPLEXITY AND ACCURACY
It is probably more complex than it needs to be (do we need all those codes? Do we need all those supplemental forms?)
I own this
Inaccurate data input - not enough focus on reporting accuracy by the officer
Training?
Motivation?
You own this

21. Where We Are / Where We’re Going
Three current reports:
NASFM: “Conquering the Unknowns” (2014)
NFPA: “Today and Tomorrow’s Fire Data” (2014)
NFPA: “NFIRS Incident Types, Why Aren’t They Telling A Clearer Story?” (2016)
NFPA data survey / report

22. Where We’re Going Administrative –
CONVENE: a group of NFIRS users (SFMs, NFIRS program managers, fire service groups) to look at:
3 reports and NFPA survey
Strategy / recommendations to REDUCE the complexity of NFIRS
Not looking to add to the system. You can add your data elements through your software vendor – follow the standard like everything else you buy.

23. …and 100% nationwide agreement on “perfect” is impossible.
There will always be a balance between accuracy, complexity and utility
…and 100% nationwide agreement on “perfect” is impossible.

24. There will always be a balance between accuracy, complexity and utility
We had a fire
We didn’t have a fire
Accurate – 99.9%
Simple
Valuable or useful ??
Complex
Accurate??
Useful??
How many pounds of air did each firefighter breathe at the fire?
(we need it for the budget...)

25. Technological: Based on the groups recommendations:
Implement improvements that are:
Within the limits of budget and technology
Changed at a rate that can be absorbed at the State and local level

26. Training: The piece that most of us miss
Resources: TRAINING
Training: The piece that most of us miss
Resident training: National Fire Academy
Local training: 2 day NFA courses through State training
On-Line training: NFAOnline

27. Resources: TRAINING
NFIRS:  Program Management (6-day classroom) – E’burg
Introduction to NFIRS 5.0 (2-day classroom) – through the State training system
National Fire Incident Reporting System Self-Study – NFAOnline (12 hour)
NFIRS Introduction and Application – available through State training system (6 hour classroom)

28. Additional NFIRS Resources Available To You

29. USFA Resources
NFIRS Help Desk
Planned: Short videos on our web site and distributed to interested users / program managers; may use YouTube.
The Administrative, Technological and Training initiatives are all designed to simplify use and improve accuracy.

30. ENTERPRISE DATA WAREHOUSE
We’re finishing up beta testing
Want to start admitting metro departments
Challenge – we can’t estimate the workload – how many we can handle
Depends upon the cooperation of your State NFIRS folks and the IT skills of your people
70+ ‘canned’ reports – capable of custom reports - ??

31. ENTERPRISE DATA WAREHOUSE
Interested in Data Warehouse? See me after.

32. Focus on accuracy by the reporting officers
HERE’S MY ONE ASK:
Focus on accuracy by the reporting officers
Training for those who complete reports
Superiors check for accuracy
Question inaccurate reports