FEMA USFA National Emergency Response Information System

Migrating from NFIRS to NERIS

What is happening?

The FEMA USFA are switching from NFIRS (created in the 1970s) to National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) in the next few years. NFIRS is unable to keep up with today’s needs for realtime data analysis - to react to fire information - and NERIS will fill this gap.

Who needs to know this?

Fire department officers and administrators who report to NFIRS will eventually need to report to NERIS.

What you need to know:

NERIS is a modern take on gathering fire data, and what constitutes fire data.

NERIS combines information from various systems, in real-time, and with less reliance on manual entry. Dispatch systems (e.g. the county computer aided dispatch (CAD) system) and weather systems and more are integrated into one overall data set.

NERIS includes geographic information system (GIS) data to combine location information with the other data sources.

When is this occurring?

This process is starting in 2023 and intended to roll out over the coming years.

Modernizing the U.S. Fire Data System: An Introduction to NERIS

On July 13, the U.S. Fire Administrator, Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell with U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate’s Senior Science Advisor, Dr. David Alexander, UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute Vice President & Executive Director, Dr. Steve Kerber and Philadelphia Fire Commissioner, Adam Thiel hosted the Modernizing the U.S. Fire Data System: An Introduction to NERIS webinar.

The webinar provided a virtual discussion about the vision, purpose and impact of the new NERIS.