Washington, DC — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) has recently made available a new National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) web-based data entry tool known as the Data Entry Browser Interface (DEBI). The new DEBI enables total web-based data entry into NFIRS, eliminating the need to download and install client software on the NFIRS user’s computer. DEBI will run using standard web browsers that will provide access to the application from any computer that has an Internet connection.
'Because DEBI does not need to be downloaded, installed, and configured, it requires much less time and technical knowledge from the NFIRS user,' said Glenn Gaines, Acting U.S. Fire Administrator. 'We hope this new tool will enhance the NFIRS user experience, increase fire department participation, and lead to improved timeliness of reporting and data quality.'
The benefits of using NFIRS, how it works and the kinds of data collected. Summary Output Reports Tool: Generate standard output reports on NFIRS data.
- The Data Entry Tool Version 5.9xx is a modified and improved National Fire Incident Reporting System that has been designed as a tool for fire departments to report and maintain computerized records of fires and other FD incidents in a uniformed manner. NFIRS 5.9xx was developed by the United States Fire Administration (USFA) in partnership.
- Mon, August 02, 2010. Washington, DC — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) has recently made available a new National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) web-based data entry tool known as the Data Entry Browser Interface (DEBI).
Enhancements for NFIRS were provided under the USFA Reauthorization Act of 2008 and have led to an opportunity for the USFA to make upgrades to NFIRS. These upgrades, which began in October of 2008 with the development of DEBI, went into beta testing on July 10, 2010. DEBI is now available to the nation’s fire service for their NFIRS reporting.
In order to use DEBI, which is free of cost to all users, a fire department must have completed the user registration at www.nfirs.fema.gov/users/ and its NFIRS State Program Manager must have assigned it the necessary permissions to use the new tool and activated its account. If a department does not already have an active NFIRS user account, it should contact its NFIRS State Program Manager. Using DEBI requires Internet connectivity, an Internet browser version compatible with the application, and a computer that meets necessary system requirements as outlined at www.nfirs.fema.gov/webtools/. Use of approved third party commercial software as an alternative is still permitted. In addition, departments may continue to use the USFA client Data Entry Tool (DET) if desired.
The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (PL 93-498) authorizes USFA’s National Fire Data Center to gather and analyze information on the magnitude of the nation's fire problem as well as its detailed characteristics and trends. In order to carry out the intentions of the Act, NFIRS was established. NFIRS has two objectives: to help state and local governments develop fire reporting and analysis capability for their own uses and to obtain data which can be used to more accurately assess and subsequently combat the fire problem at a national level. For more information on NFIRS, visit www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/nfirs/. For technical assistance or questions regarding NFIRS or DEBI, please contact the NFIRS Support Center at (888) 382-3827.
For more information, contact:USFA MediaPhone: (301) 447-1853
Welcome to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Web site. This Web site provides system resources and an overview of the standard national reporting system used by U.S. fire departments to report fires and other incidents to which they respond and to maintain records of these incidents in a uniform manner. The site also includes information on training, technical support, and information for vendors who develop NFIRS-compatible software programs. Visitors to this site may also download coding handbooks, sample forms, and a system documentation manual. Learn More About NFIRS »
Attention: the content of this page is maintained on the USFA website in the NFIRS Section. Please visit the USFA NFIRS section for most current NFIRS information.
All NFIRS applications are available: December 20th 2012
The deployment of NFIRS software Release 5 is complete and all applications are now available.
Maintenance Window Scheduled: December 19th, 2012 8:00PM EST - December 20th 2012 6:00AM EST
INTERRUPTION OF NFIRS SERVICES TO ALL NFIRS USERS
This notice is to inform all NFIRS users that the USFA is planning the deployment of NFIRS software Release 5. The release is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, December 19, 2012 beginning at 8:00 PM EST and ending on or about Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 6:00 AM EST. All NFIRS services are scheduled to be unavailable during this time period. This is an estimated maintenance window and an email will be sent to all users as soon as the migration has completed. The release requires a complete shutdown of all NFIRS services:
- NFIRS Client Data Entry Tool (DET)
- NFIRS Client System Admin Tool
- NFIRS Web-based Data Entry Browser Interface (DEBI)
- NFIRS Web-based Summary Output Reports Tool (SORT)
- NFIRS Web-based Bulk Export Utility (BEU)
- NFIRS Web-based Bulk Import Utility (BIU)
- NFIRS Web-based System Admin Tool
- NFIRS Web-based User Services
- NFIRS Web-based File Validation Utility
All NFIRS applications are available: August 16th 2012
The relocation of the NFIRS applications to the new data center is complete. All applications are now available although the system is currently operating at reduced capacity while troubleshooting of a few remaining issues continues. The NFIRS applications are now located in a more robust environment which may help both system stability and processing speeds going forward.
Maintenance Window Completed: August 13th 2012
All applications are available with the exception of the DET
The migration of the NFIRS applications to the new data center is complete. All applications are available with the exception of the online DET. The DET is currently only available for use in the off-line mode. We are working on the issue and hope to have a resolution promptly. In the meantime please use the DEBI or other Web Tools to perform the tasks normally performed by the DET.
Maintenance Window Scheduled: August 10th, 2012 - August 13th 2012
INTERRUPTION OF NFIRS SERVICES TO ALL NFIRS USERS
The USFA is planning a migration of the NFIRS servers to a new data center. The move is scheduled for the weekend of August 11th. NFIRS services are scheduled to be unavailable from Friday, August 10th, 10 p.m. EST to Monday, August 13th 9:00 a.m. EST. This is an estimated maintenance window and an email will be sent to all users as soon as the migration has completed. The move requires a complete shutdown of all NFIRS services:
- NFIRS Client Data Entry Tool (DET)
- NFIRS Client System Admin Tool
- NFIRS Web-based Data Entry Browser Interface (DEBI)
- NFIRS Web-based Summary Output Reports Tool (SORT)
- NFIRS Web-based Bulk Export Utility (BEU)
- NFIRS Web-based Bulk Import Utility (BIU)
- NFIRS Web-based System Admin Tool
- NFIRS Web-based User Services
- NFIRS Web-based File Validation Utility
Please schedule your NFIRS activity around the blackout dates. The interruption is necessary and unavoidable. Once the move is completed, the USFA can move forward with its plan to make the NFIRS EDW available to NFIRS participants. An email will be sent out once services have been restored.
Maintenance Window Complete: December 3rd, 2011
The maintenance window is complete and the NFIRS 5.0 System is available for normal use.
This information was posted on December 3, 2011
Maintenance Window Complete: November 22nd, 2011
The maintenance window is complete and the NFIRS 5.0 System is available for normal use.
Nfirs Data Entry Tool
This information was posted on November 22, 2011
NFIRS 5.0 On-Line System Update: November 22nd, 2011
The NFIRS 5.0 On-line system will be unavailable beginning Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 at 6AM EST until approximately 8AM EST to allow for system maintenance.
Users are asked to log off of the system prior to 6AM EST and remain off of the system until an email is sent to users and notice is posted on the NFIRS 5.0 Home page that the maintenance window is complete and all services are available. Please note that at the start of the maintenance any pending reports or import/export requests that have not completed will be lost and will need to be re-submitted after the system is back on-line.
The new version of the DET will be 5.9.1. If users want to use the 5.9.1 version, they can use the 'NFIRS Update Version' option. However, the users still using 5.7 will not be able to upgrade to 5.9.1 by using the 'NFIRS Update version' option. The NFIRS Servlet will continue to support 5.7 and newer clients.
This version release contains the rules and edits defined in the January 2012 Specification Cycle and they will take effect in January for incidents with an alarm date of 01/01/2012 or beyond. In addition, this release contains the following changes:
- A new online NFIRS File validation utility is available for the NFIRS vendors to validate their NFIRS transaction files. The client vendor validation tool is no longer needed and will not be maintained. Vendors should use the new on-line tool to validate transaction files.
- NFIRS users will now have the ability to print a copy of an incident in the paper forms format from the DEBI.
- The NFIRS DEBI application will now enforce validation masks for certain key data fields to prevent invalid data entry.
- Users of the Bulk Export tool can now view all of their export requests made within the last 60 days.
- The error report file produced by the online Bulk Import process will now match the file format produced by the DET.
This information was posted on November 18, 2011
NFIRS 5.0 On-Line System Availability: December 3rd, 2011
The NFIRS 5.0 On-line system will be unavailable beginning Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 at 7:30AM EST until approximately 4PM EST to allow for server relocation.
Users are asked to log off of the system prior to 7AM EST and remain off of the system until an email is sent to users and notice is posted on the NFIRS 5.0 Home page that the maintenance window is complete and all services are available. Please note that at the start of the maintenance any pending reports or import/export requests that have not completed will be lost and will need to be re-submitted after the system is back on-line.
Reminder: The NFIRS 5.0 On-line system will be unavailable from 6AM until 8AM EST on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month for system maintenance.
This information was posted on November 18, 2011
UPDATE - January 2012 Specification Change Cycle - Preliminary Documentation Release
The preview documentation for the NFIRS January 2012 change cycle has been updated with a additional change. The suggested validation warning message in change #331 has been revised to provide better information about the response time. The update preview documents are posted in a separate section on the NFIRS 5.0 Design Documentation page and replace the previous version of the files released on September 1, 2011.
Nfirs Data Entry Tool Download Free
The changes identified in the January 2012 Preliminary Changes and Corrections Log and Spec Tables will not be implemented in the live system until January 1, 2012.
This information was posted on October 18, 2011
UPDATE - January 2012 Specification Change Cycle - Preliminary Documentation Release
The preview documentation for the NFIRS January 2012 change cycle has been updated with two changes. Change #337 has been removed. Change #350 has been added. The update preview documents are posted in a separate section on the NFIRS 5.0 Design Documentation page and replace the previous version of the files released on September 1, 2011.
The changes identified in the January 2012 Preliminary Changes and Corrections Log and Spec Tables will not be implemented in the live system until January 1, 2012.
This information was posted on October 5, 2011
Nfirs Data Entry Tool Download For Windows
January 2012 Specification Change Cycle - Preliminary Documentation Release
To assist Fire Software Vendors and State Program Managers in preparing for the January 2012 Specification Cycle Release, the Preliminary Specification Changes and Corrections Log and the Preliminary Specification Tables have been posted on the NFIRS website. The files preview the changes to the NFIRS that will be implemented in the January 2012 Specification Cycle. The updated Design Documentation, CRG and Paper Forms reflecting these changes will be published in January.
The preview documents are posted in a separate section on the NFIRS 5.0 Design Documentation page.
The changes identified in the January 2012 Preliminary Changes and Corrections Log and Spec Tables will not be implemented in the live system until January 1, 2012.
This information was posted on September 1, 2011