NFIRS EMS Module

The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is the world's largest, national, annual database of fire incident information. It is also an all-incident reporting system, collecting data beyond fires to include the full range of fire department activity on a national scale. Fire departments may report through NFIRS electronically or by submitting paper forms.

After responding to an incident, fire department personnel complete one or more of the NFIRS "modules" or forms. The information in these modules describes the type of incident; where it occurred; the resources used to mitigate it and how; losses; and other information designed specifically to understand the nature and causes of the incident.

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Module is an optional module in NFIRS. It should be used when that option has been chosen by your state or local authorities. This module is completed only if the fire department provides emergency medical service. If an independent provider performs EMS, do not use this module.

The purpose of the EMS Module is to gather basic data as it relates to the provision of emergency medical care to the community. It is may be used by both responding EMS unit(s) and responding fire suppression unit(s) that provide emergency medical services. This module does not include patient car information. The data collected from this form are incident based not patient based.

The EMS Module is not intended to replace or otherwise interfere with state or local EMS patient care reporting requirements. Instead, it is the intent that the data elements contained in this module be viewed as "core elements" and be included in the design of upgrades or new EMS data collection systems.

For more information on NFIRS and the EMS Module, please visit the NFIRS Web site.