NERIS is here, but since NERIS is the future, NERIS can wait a bit (state willing.) Your NFIRS needs to be squared away this month, and that might be all you can manage this month. It's always tricky to complete past reports, but this year we only have January to get it all done. Further, you'll want more time to export your NFIRS so you have a copy after it closes down. Responserack can help you, if you need a tool to make it easer. Finalize your NFIRS P.S. Sorry for the repetition on this...
29 days ago • 1 min read
RESPONSERACK VOL FIRE DEPT SOFTWARE Are your FD neighbors on NERIS? If not, send them this ... they don't have to wait: How do I get into NERIS? Don't wait for it to find your fire department! Some recent / helpful NERIS articles: How to Export your NFIRS data before it's gone. Don't train your firefighters on NERIS. Seriously! NERIS Cheat Sheet & NERIS Medical Incident Types. PSA: Navigating NERIS migration speed bumps. Many more NERIS articles. I'm Adam, a long time volunteer firefighter,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, The National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) is here in mere days. To help you prepare, here are the hard deadlines and bare minimum compliance steps you need to know. Key Deadlines January 1, 2026: All new incident reporting must be done through NERIS. No new incidents for 2026 can be submitted to the old NFIRS system. January 31, 2026: This is the absolute final day to make any edits or modifications to your 2025 (or earlier) incident data within NFIRS. February...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, As we wind down 2025, NFIRS is going away, and NERIS will replace it. Is NERIS Mandatory? Short answer: YES. My understanding is that state fire marshals are mandating NERIS reporting (other than perhaps Ohio.) If you report to NFIRS you need to migrate to reporting to NERIS. If you don't report to NFIRS, you might well need to start with NERIS. Many fire departments are already eligible for NERIS migration. If not, your migration month is December or January. Navigating any...
2 months ago • 1 min read
RESPONSERACK VOL FIRE DEPT SOFTWARE Connecting your Fire RMS to NERIS To allow your department's Fire Report Management System (Fire RMS) to send incident reports to NERIS on your behalf, you need to follow this step. ( This is how you maintain control over what can do NERIS work for your department. ) Login to your NERIS account and enter your Fire RMSs "client id" (some gobbledegook) into Enrollments / Client ID. Follow this step to enroll in the integration. For Responserack the client id...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Firefighter Operational Notes Most of the time - as a firefighter putting wet stuff on red stuff - you leave your phone in your pocket, or back at the station. Then again, there are times to use a device (a tablet in the truck, or your phone) to capture information. When your assignment / role is: Water Supply - record water shuttle loads, tallied by apparatus. Staging - capturing check-ins and check-outs, and which agencies are assisting. Safety - good practices, bad situations, for any AAR....
5 months ago • 1 min read
RESPONSERACK VOL FIRE DEPT SOFTWARE Responserack is reporting into NERIS As of May 1st 2025, NERIS started its rollout across the country. Responserack customers were invited into NERIS, have completed the setup, and are now reporting into NERIS. Read: Responserack Reporting to NERIS NERIS - no more export file wrangling: For eons now, Fire Chiefs have had to create batch files and move them around to get their NFIRS reporting done. It seems simple, but the hassles & inefficiencies of...
9 months ago • 1 min read
RESPONSERACK VOL FIRE DEPT SOFTWARE NERIS rollout schedule NERIS rollout starts in a couple of months, and runs through the end of this year. Your state or territory month is based upon your FEMA region. You could be looking at two months, or up to ten months. See here: NERIS Rollout Schedule Here is a recap of some of the NERIS concepts: What Incident Modules does NERIS (V1) provide? Dispatch and (multiple) Final Incident Types vs One Types. NERIS incident locations are an absolute feast of...
12 months ago • 1 min read
RESPONSERACK VOL FIRE DEPT SOFTWARE Just a brief update today. Some insights into these NERIS types ... Apparatus / Units and Locations One of the benefits of the reworking of NFIRS to NERIS is filling some of the bigger gaps, many of which have just grown over time. This is the case for both locations and apparatus/unit types. NERIS Locations - Place Details NFIRS helped locate a place (e.g. an address or intersection), but NERIS helps locate a place within a place (e.g. Section 30, Row 12,...
12 months ago • 1 min read