NFIRS → NERIS: what actually changed

1. Flat form → modules

NFIRS was a set of forms with a fixed field layout. NERIS is a core incident record with modules attached to it, and which modules exist on a given incident depends on what the incident was.

The practical difference: you no longer fill in the same shape of form for a lift assist and a working fire. What you are asked scales with what happened.

2. Numeric codes → text hierarchies

NFIRS incident types were numeric. NERIS types are a three-level text hierarchy, for example FIRE → STRUCTURE_FIRE → ROOM_AND_CONTENTS_FIRE, sent to the API as FIRE||STRUCTURE_FIRE||ROOM_AND_CONTENTS_FIRE.

There are 128 of them across 7 top-level categories. The complete list is here.

This is where a memorised numeric vocabulary stops helping. The categories are recognisable, but the leaves are differently cut: some NFIRS codes split into several NERIS types and some collapse together. That is exactly why we do not publish a guessed mapping.

3. Multiple types per incident

A NERIS incident can carry more than one type with one marked primary. A vehicle into a pole with a patient and a wire down is not a choice between three codes any more.

4. One narrative → two

NERIS asks for an impediment narrative and an outcome narrative separately. What got in your way is now its own field rather than a sentence buried in a paragraph, which, aggregated nationally, is the point of the change.

5. Casualties became sub-modules

Counts became records. Firefighter and non-firefighter casualties and rescues are separate modules with demographics and rescue type, and they are part of every incident even when the answer is "nobody was hurt".

6. Unit-level response detail

Per-apparatus response data is first-class: each unit that responded has its own entry rather than being summarised on the incident.

7. Weather and parcel data are filled in for you

NERIS augments the incident from the location and time. Fields you used to look up are no longer yours to enter.

8. Files → API

NFIRS reporting for most departments ended in an export that went to the state. NERIS is API-first, which is why "which vendor are you using" is now a question with consequences, and why a department has to authorize a vendor before that vendor can file on its behalf.

What has NOT changed

• You still have to write down what happened, and the report is still your professional record of the call.
• The report is still due whether or not the shift was busy.
• Getting the times right still matters more than getting the prose elegant.

If you want an official crosswalk

Start with the NERIS documentation itself, then check whether your own state has published a crosswalk. One we know of:

• NERIS data dictionary, the authoritative field and value reference.
• NERIS technical reference
• Oregon State Fire Marshal NFIRS-to-NERIS crosswalk (PDF), published by that office for its own departments. We link it because it exists and it is useful; it is not ours and we did not verify it line by line.
• NERIS onboarding and department sign-up if your department is not in NERIS yet.

The migration question nobody asks until later

Historical NFIRS data does not move into NERIS by filing new reports. If you need your old records, keep whatever export you already have. Nothing on this page, and nothing this product does, changes that.