176 Incident Types for a little bit of

EVERYTHING

Kansas F

ire

Incident R

eporting S

ystem

The Incident Type defines the entire report and controlswhich modules are open for completion. An accurateFire Incident Report starts with choosing correctly.

In ci dent Type/noun

Start by concentrating on the call you worked. How thecall was dispatched doesn't always reflect the on-scenereality and should not be reported as the Incident Type.

START

Incident Types are three digits long andorganized into 9 categories. Using a cheat sheetorganized into those categories will help quicklyreduce Incident Types you don't need.

Click here for an example cheat sheet

Fire

Hazard Service Call Good Intent

Weather Special

Explosion Rescue & EMS

False Alarm

The Fire Service wears many hats, often at the samescene. For calls where multiple Incident Types apply, usethe lower number. For example, a car wreck (322-324)that also includes a car fire (130's) would be reportedunder the car fire (130's) because 130 is less than 322.

STOP

If you are canceled en-route and do not make the scene,no matter what kind of call was dispatched you wouldonly use one Incident Type: 611-Dispatched and Canceled En Route

If the call involved a fire, determine if the fire was"hostile" or controlled. All hostile fires will have anIncident Type that starts with a "1".

Controlled burns are reported using the following: 631-Authorized Controlled Burning 632-Prescribed Fire (written plan on file) 561-Unauthorized Burning

You may think it's a shortcut to use "Other" IncidentTypes like 100-Other Fire or 900-Other Special Callbecause you'll be asked to complete less fields. While itmay take you less time to complete the report, you havedecreased both its accuracy and its worth.

AVOID

Plus-1 codes add a fourth letter or number to the Incident Type andyou can program them into your NFIRS software. For example, 611-1:Canceled En-Route to a Fire, 611-2: Canceled En-Route to EMS Call. You now have more specific codes allowing you furthercategorization.

The NFIRS system isn't thrown by Plus-1 codes, allowing youto record a more specific code locally while not receiving anyerrors from the NFIRS system.

Using CodesPLUS-1

Exposures

Exposure fires do not always have the same Incident Type. If theoriginal fire is a house (Incident Type 111-Building) that spreads tothe grass field out back (143-Grass Fire), when you're working onthe exposure report make sure the Incident Type matches thatexposure.

In some software packages, the "Add Exposure" button willbring the Incident Type from the original fire.

Follow these simple guidelines for choosing anIncident Type and you are well on your way toputting data quality issues to pasture.