This 6-day course is offered to enhance the knowledge and skills of those individuals responsible for managing the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and/or multiple fire/emergency medical services (EMS) databases in their organization, and/or for those responsible for the training of field-level data collection and reporting staffs. This course provides information about the system’s capabilities, data collection and analysis, and the available reporting features. Focus is on the higher-level knowledge, skills and abilities required to collect, compile and analyze NFIRS data to develop decision packages used as the basis for standards of cover, and on comparative data based on local, state or national data and trends.
Note: Class activities require knowledge of NFIRS coding and familiarity with Microsoft Excel sufficient to navigate the toolbars. Extensive use of computers is required for this course.
You will be directed in the acceptance letter to access the pre-course information. You must contact your NFIRS state program manager 4 weeks prior to the start of class to obtain permission for data access for use during the training. Additionally, you will need to complete a pre-course skills evaluation, data collection activities and recommended readings that are found in the pre-course information.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to take the self-study course Q0880, "Management Tools for Emergency Services Leaders" available through NFA Online before attending this course.
Pre-course materials and course syllabus
| Welcome Letter, BYOD Instructions, Pre-course Assignment: | https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/pcm/pcm_n0491.pdf PDF 156KB |
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| Course Syllabus: | https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/ax/syll/syllabus_n0491.pdf PDF 126KB |
This course is for a broad audience of fire department NFIRS/EMS program managers/developers and administrative analysts and staff responsible for NFIRS multisource data collection/analysis, and for the training of field-level data collection and reporting staffs.
Special consideration is available for groups of students from the same organization attending the same session. All applications must be submitted at the same time.
1. Incident Command System (ICS)-100-level and ICS-200-level training. Preferred courses are Q0462 and Q0463, available through NFA Online. Chief’s signature attests that the applicant has completed this required training.
2. Applicant must have attended and successfully completed one of the following or an equivalent:
- The National Fire Academy's (NFA’s) 2-day “Introduction to NFIRS 5.0” (F/W/O0497) course.
- A state or regionally sponsored 2-day “Introduction to NFIRS” course.
- The NFA’s online “National Fire Incident Reporting System 5.0 Self-Study” (Q0494) course available through NFA Online.
Note: Pre-course reading and data collection activities are required.