In today's rapidly evolving world, effective emergency response systems are crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of communities. Enter NERIS - a groundbreaking initiative poised to transform how we approach emergency responses before, during, and after crises. Backed by data and cutting-edge analytics, NERIS promises to revolutionize decision-making processes in emergency situations.

FSRI

At the forefront of this initiative is the Fire Safety Research Institute, introducing the new NERIS draft data framework. This framework marks a significant leap forward in enhancing fire safety and emergency response strategies. But what truly sets NERIS apart is its collaborative approach - you, the individuals on the ground, are invited to shape its development and ensure its effectiveness.

Led by Chief Tom Jenkins, a recent webinar delved into the modernization of the US Fire Data System and the proposed NERIS data framework. Attendees were encouraged to provide feedback and ask questions, emphasizing the inclusive nature of this transformative project.

What NERIS Offers

At its core, NERIS is a national platform designed to provide real-time information and analytical tools to support data-informed decision-making across all types of hazards and scales. By streamlining data entry processes and integrating with existing systems like computer-aided dispatch and geographic information systems, NERIS aims to alleviate burdens on local firefighters and departments.

Furthermore, NERIS boasts a user-friendly interface and basic self-service analytical products, ensuring accessibility and ease of use for all stakeholders. As development progresses, NERIS will continue to evolve, with plans to incorporate features such as data governance guidelines and enhanced analytical capabilities.

Crucially, NERIS is being provided to fire departments at no cost, with plans to align with existing grant programs like the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and SAFER, simplifying the application process for these vital funding opportunities.

Into the Future

Looking ahead, NERIS aims to foster collaboration and transparency within the fire service community. With ongoing engagement from federal agencies, local departments, and industry stakeholders, NERIS is poised to become a cornerstone of emergency response efforts nationwide.

As the journey towards NERIS's full implementation continues, one thing remains clear - this innovative platform has the potential to redefine how we approach emergency response, ensuring safer and more resilient communities for years to come. Stay tuned for further updates and get ready to be a part of this transformative journey.

Key Takeaways

• NERIS is a national platform for fire and emergency services that will provide near real time information analytic tools to support data informed empirical decision making to inform preparedness, prevention, mitigation, and response to incidents across all hazards and scales.

• We're reducing data entry burdens on local firefighters and local fire departments by integrating with existing systems your departments use today, including computer aided dispatch systems, records management systems, and geographic information systems.

• NERIS is an environment where data can be pushed out to the community.

• It's equipped with basic self-service analytical products that use your department's data and integrate with the latest models and analysis methodologies.

• It's being provided at no cost to our fire departments net, and it offers three different ways to report your incident data.

• Each fire department will have their own node on NERIS, where they can administer their own users, choose their roles and permissions, and access all their own raw data that they have submitted into NERIS.

• NERIS will have a whole data management environment, which will allow for common business rules and policies around data management, as well as integration of a variety of other third party data. This will also allow for aggregated and rolled up data, and basic self-service analytic products.

• NERIS will share its data with other critical national systems, such as the National Firefighter Registry, and will also incorporate research and science-based derived models, machine learning applications, and national weather data.

• GIS based system will allow the fire service to map out the relationship between stations, units, departments, and even individual departments to facilitate conversations that might not have been available before.

• API driven, this system connects directly to the CAD system or to an RMS, and alleviates the burden on the American firefighter to fill this information out after an incident.

• In the spring of 2024, we'll be actively working to develop an additional set of data schemas, including data schemas for investigations, exposures, and community risk reduction. In the summer of 2024, we'll be working to bring all of this common language together in a common NERIS data dictionary.

• NERIS is a new platform for sharing emergency response data that will be available to the public in the near future. We've had a lot of participants submit questions and we've also had some submitted during our talk and presentation.

• NERIS is being designed to eliminate duplication of incident records so that we can provide analytics at the local level, and not duplicate that effort as we ladder up to the state fire marshal office or the federal level.

• There are 26,000 fire departments across the country, and while many are using analytics to understand their data, the vast majority of fire departments are smaller. Some of those smaller departments may benefit the most from onboarding and migrating into NERIS.

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