Welcome to FireReporting.org
Many departments across the nation are being challenged by budget crises, rising call volume, personnel and equipment shortages, security issues and the overall expectation to do more with less. These and other factors, all too often, have our responding crews encountering increasing line of duty risk of injury and death as they continue to work to reduce civilian injury and property loss. Even with the technological advances of the last decades, we have not yet been able to scientifically quantify our experiences to determine what staffing levels, asset configurations and response time frames are best when responding to various levels of fire or EMS events so that we minimize risk to the firefighters, paramedics and the public. We believe the time has come to change that.
Fire Service Leaders Conduct Study to Improve Fire Fighter Safety and Deployment
  The IAFF, IAFC, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Center for Public Safety Excellence have partnered to conduct a study to determine what staffing levels, response times and deployment of resources work best when responding to variety of fire or EMS events in an effort to minimize the safety risks to fire fighters, paramedics and the public.

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (FIRE Act), this study will help develop tools for fire departments to use to better assess the risks in their communities and to deploy resources more effectively and efficiently to match the level of risk.

The results of this study will be especially useful to the many fire departments across the nation that are challenged by budget crises, rising call volume, personnel and equipment shortages, security issues and an overall expectation to do more with less. These and other factors, all too often, lead to an increasing number of line-of-duty injuries and death.

More than 400 fire departments throughout the United States have been selected to participate in this national study. Each department will be asked to participate in the data-gathering effort using a custom-developed web-based form. Although participation is voluntary, all selected departments are strongly encouraged to cooperate so that the integrity of the scientific study is maintained. All data provided will be treated confidentially.

Sample Section
  - How were departments selected?
    More than 400 career and combination fire departments throughout the United States were scientifically selected for inclusion in the study. The selection was random, based on a range of populations to ensure study validity. Validity of the sample is vital so that the results will be applicable to similar departments in the United States.
  - How are departments being notified of selection?
  If your department was selected into the study, the chief will receive a letter of invitation notifying them of the selection. Associated local union presidents will also received notification of the department’s selection. If you do not receive these letters by July 15, then your department has not been selected into the study.
  - What do we do if we got the letter notifying us that we have been selected to Participate?
If your department has been randomly selected into the study, the chief is to designate someone who will be asked to enter incident information into our web-based data collection system. Employees with in-depth knowledge of departmental response data are best for this duty. This may include data management staff, information systems managers, or quality improvement staff. Once identified, the chief or designee should contact Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell at 202-824-1594 or by email at Lmoore@iaff.org for instructions.
  - Are there instructions for entering data into the survey?
Upon contact, the designated data entry person for the department will be instructed on how to access the surveys and will be provided an instruction manual on the data entry system. The instruction manual is critical to ensuring the quality of the data. The designee will also be issued a user name and password to access the surveys and begin data entry.
  - How many incidents will we need to enter into the surveys?
Your department will enter approximately 100 actual fire incidents and 100 ALS EMS incidents. We anticipate that each entry will take less than 10 minutes. The overall time frame for data entry depends on the frequency of these events in your jurisdiction.
  - How can my department participate if we were NOT selected?
If your department did not receive a letter of notification/invitation to participate in the study, you are still welcome to participate and contribute data. Click on “Apply to Participate’ and complete the requested information. Once submitted, you will be assigned a password so that you may participate in the study by completing the surveys and contributing incident data.
Fire Service's Core Values
  Protect lives, property, and the environment through preparedness, prevention, public education and emergency response with an emphasis on quality services, efficiency, effectiveness and safety.

Objective
  Optimize a fire service leader's capability to deploy resources to prevent or mitigate adverse events that occur in a risk/hazard filled environment.

Final Products
  Computer model for fire service use with strong scientific foundation.