Basic Incident - NFIRS

NFIRS Codes Cheat Sheet - NFIRS Coding - NFIRS Examples - FDIDs - POCs

NERIS replaced NFIRS in 2026. See our NERIS resources.

NFIRS 5.0 Transaction: ‘Basic Incident’

Description: ‘Provides the standard details for the incident’

Class: Used for incident transactions

Module: Basic

Need something else? Here is the complete list of all NFIRS modules and subsequent NFIRS transactions, plus a list of all NFIRS elements.

Responserack helps Volunteer Fire Departments get to NERIS & thrive.

Adam Jack, Responserack

Transaction Elements:

The ‘Basic Incident’ transaction contains the following elements in order.

Key Elements:

These elements are part of the ‘Basic Incident’ transaction, as they are part of every transaction, since they form the record key; they uniquely identify the incident from other incidents.

• Fire Department ID
• Fire Department State
• Incident (Alarm) Date
• Incident Number (Identifier)
• Exposure Number
• Record Type/Transaction Code
• Transaction Type (Add, Update, Delete)

Transaction Specific Elements:

These elements are part of the specific information carried by the ‘Basic Incident’ transaction. They form the main payload of this transaction.

• Incident Type
• Address recorded on Wildland Module (Form)
• Aid Given or Received
• Alarm Date Time
• Arrival Date Time
• Incident Controlled Date Time
• Last Unit Cleared Date Time
• Shift
• Alarms
• District
• Actions Taken
• Resource Module (Form) Used
• Suppression Apparatus
• EMS Apparatus
• Other Apparatus
• Suppression Personnel
• EMS Personnel
• Other Personnel
• Resources Include Mutual Aid
• Property Loss
• Contents Loss
• Property Value
• Contents Value
• Fire Service Deaths
• Other Deaths
• Fire Service Injuries
• Other Injuries
• Detector Alerted Occupants
• Hazardous Material Released
• Mixed Use
• Property Use

NERIS made simple for Volunteer FDs

Responserack offers middle-of-the-night firefighter-simple volunteer fire department software for NERIS. Check out our start of year NERIS offer.

NERIS Offer for 2026Offer

Transaction Blocks:

These blocks are collections of elements carried by the ‘Basic Incident’ transaction.

Need more NFIRS help?

Need more help with NFIRS, or not yet found what you are looking for? Please see if these help …  

For more information see the NFIRS Cheat Sheet, NFIRS Coding and contact Responserack to learn about our fire department software.