Pennsylvania Fire Information Reporting System (PennFIRS)

Data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) as reported through PennFIRS (As of February 2, 2012)

2011: Summary by Inc Type (682 FDs reporting 148,655 incidents)

2011 Fire Department Incident Type Summary

2011 Monthly Incident Summary

2010: Summary by Inc Type (772 FDs reporting 448,668 incidents) FD Incident Type Summary

2009: Summary by Inc Type (869 FDs reporting 453,509 incidents) FD Incident Type Summary 

PennFIRS, the Pennsylvania Fire Information Reporting System, is intended to assist the state’s fire departments in managing the flow of their National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) reports to the United States Fire Administration’s National Fire Data Center. PennFIRS also has the potential for reviewing and analyzing Pennsylvania’s fire situation.  If your department incidents are not shown in the documents above, your information is not in the NFIRS system.  Please contact this office to get your incidents counted!

The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 authorized the United States Fire Administration’s (USFA) National Fire Data Center to gather and analyze information on the magnitude of the Nation's fire problem, as well as its detailed characteristics and trends. The Act authorized the USFA to develop uniform data reporting methods, and to assist state agencies in developing and reporting data. The National Fire Data Center established NFIRS to carry out the intentions of the Act.

PennFIRS On-Line - NFIRS Software
NFIRS reporting is done electronically, so the USFA has developed a standard NFIRS package that includes incident and casualty forms and a coding structure consistent with the National Fire Protection Association Standard 901, Uniform Coding for Fire Protection. The current version of NFIRS, version 5.0, was released in January 1999. NFIRS 5.0 expands the collection of data beyond fires to include the full range of fire department activity on a national scale. It is a true all-incident reporting system.

While fire departments can use any NFIRS 5.0 compliant software to submit their reports, the Office of State Fire Commissioner has purchased a statewide license from Firehouse Software (FH.NET) that is called PennFIRS On-Line. This means that a basic fire reporting package is available to every fire department in Pennsylvania at no cost to the department. Read More

FDID
To participate in NFIRS fire departments must have an FDID, a Fire Department Identification Number. Departments should always check with the OSFC or their county EMA/911 agency before beginning to use an FDID. Read More

Data Collection Sites
For a number of years, the OSFC has been working with county agencies to encourage them to participate in PennFIRS as first level data collections sites to assure that the statewide data network works as smoothly and efficiently as possible. There is no requirement that county EMA or 911 agencies must be involved in the PennFIRS program, but we believe the valuable information available through PennFIRS will be found to be beneficial and become an important resource for all those agencies and organizations that participate in the system.

Fire departments that need to report to USFA/NFIRS to complete their Federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant obligations but do not have access to a county or regional collection site should contact George Stapleton for additional information.