The NERIS Era Begins: The U.S. Fire Service Completes Its Historic Transition from NFIRS

A 50-Year System Gets Replaced

On February 1, 2026, the United States Fire Administration officially retired the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) after nearly five decades of service. In its place, the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) is now the primary and only fire and all-hazards data system in the country.

This is the most significant change in fire service data infrastructure since the original NFIRS was created in 1976. For the roughly 27,000 fire departments across America, it means a fundamentally different way of recording, analyzing, and using incident data. For the fire service as a whole, it represents an overdue leap from a system designed in the era of paper forms to one built for modern analytics and real-time decision-making.

Why NFIRS Had to Go

NFIRS was born from the landmark 1973 report America Burning, which led to the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 and the creation of the USFA. The system was designed to give the nation its first comprehensive picture of the fire problem. And for decades, it did—imperfectly, but meaningfully.

By the 2020s, however, NFIRS had become a liability. Its core architecture dated to the late 1990s (Version 5.0 was released in January 1999). The problems were well-documented:

Outdated technology — The codebase was over a decade old, running on aging infrastructure with mounting security vulnerabilities.
Batch-based submissions — Data was often submitted weeks or months after incidents, making real-time analysis impossible.
Rigid categorization — NFIRS allowed only a single incident type per report, failing to capture the complexity of modern emergency responses that frequently involve fire, EMS, and hazmat simultaneously.
Poor interoperability — The system didn't integrate well with modern records management systems (RMS) or other emergency data platforms.
Free-text narratives — Chiefs and analysts had to manually interpret narrative fields, making large-scale data analysis cumbersome and inconsistent.
Incomplete participation — Reporting was voluntary at the federal level, and data quality varied enormously between states and departments.

In October 2021, USFA formally initiated modernization efforts, determining that NFIRS could not be patched or upgraded—it needed to be replaced entirely.

What Is NERIS?

NERIS is a secure, cloud-based platform developed through a partnership between the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, and the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), which holds the research and development contract. It is offered at no cost to all verified fire departments, first responders, and emergency response teams.

NERIS isn't just a new interface on the same old data model. It is a ground-up redesign of how the nation collects, validates, and uses emergency incident data.

Key Improvements Over NFIRS

Multiple incident types — NERIS supports up to three incident types per report, accurately capturing complex calls that involve fire suppression, EMS, and technical rescue in a single event.
Near-real-time data — Instead of batch submissions, NERIS leverages API-based data exchange, making incident data available in near-real-time where appropriate.
Real-time validation — Errors are flagged during data entry rather than discovered weeks later during batch review, dramatically improving data quality.
Modern user interface — The platform is designed for use on multiple devices and is built to be intuitive for firefighters in the field, not just data analysts at headquarters.
Personalized dashboards — Each department gets a tailored view of their own data with built-in analytics, trend identification, and resource planning tools.
Enhanced interoperability — Data is available via APIs in multiple formats, enabling seamless integration with RMS platforms, CAD systems, and third-party analysis tools.
National consistency — Standardized data collection across every participating department means the nation finally gets a uniform, comparable picture of emergency response.

The Rollout Timeline

The transition from NFIRS to NERIS followed a carefully phased approach over more than two years:

May 2023 — Official public launch of NERIS development via a joint DHS/FEMA press release.
August 2024 — Beta version released with 50 select fire departments participating in testing.
Fall 2024 — NERIS Version 1.0 production release.
November 2024 — Phase 1 onboarding begins with 100 departments entering live incident data.
January 2025 — 12-month nationwide rollout begins, with NERIS operating alongside NFIRS during the transition period.
February 2025 — Phase 2 onboarding expands access to additional departments.
Throughout 2025 — Regional onboarding waves continue, bringing all 27,000 U.S. fire departments onto the platform.
January 31, 2026 — Final day for NFIRS. All historical data in eNFIRS is no longer accessible through the legacy system.
February 1, 2026 — NERIS becomes the sole national fire data system.

What This Means for Your Department

If you're a fire chief, officer, or administrator, the transition to NERIS has practical implications that go beyond simply learning a new software interface.

New Identifiers

Each department and user is now issued a 10-digit alphanumeric identifier replacing the legacy FDID numbers. If your department hasn't received yours, contact your state's NERIS coordinator immediately.

Historical Data

NFIRS historical data is no longer accessible through the eNFIRS platform. Departments that need to reference historical incident records should have exported or archived their data before the January 31 cutoff. If you missed this window, contact your state fire marshal's office—many states maintained their own copies of NFIRS data.

RMS Integration

If your department uses a commercial records management system, confirm that your vendor supports NERIS API integration. Major RMS providers like ESO, ImageTrend, and others have built NERIS compatibility into their platforms. If your vendor has not, you may need to enter data directly through the NERIS web portal.

Training

NERIS is designed to be simpler than NFIRS for end users—less is required of the individual firefighter entering data. However, the shift to multiple incident types, real-time validation, and new data fields means that officers responsible for incident reporting need dedicated training time with the new platform.

Why Better Data Matters

For decades, fire service leaders have made resource allocation, staffing, and prevention decisions based on incomplete, delayed, and inconsistent data. NERIS changes that equation fundamentally.

Community Risk Reduction

NERIS enables departments to establish a shared understanding of risk at the first-due and community level—consistently, on a nationwide basis. The platform's analytics tools allow departments to identify incident trends, map high-risk areas, and measure the effectiveness of prevention programs with data that is current, not months old.

For departments dealing with staffing shortages, data-driven resource allocation isn't just a nice-to-have—it's essential. When you can prove with real incident data where and when calls are concentrated, you can make a stronger case for budget requests, mutual aid agreements, and station placement.

Predictive Analytics

The USFA has stated that NERIS will provide reliable predictive analytics to support community risk reduction and resilience efforts. This means departments will eventually be able to forecast incident patterns based on historical trends, weather data, and demographic factors—moving from reactive response to proactive prevention.

National Benchmarking

With standardized data collection across the country, departments will be able to benchmark their performance against comparable agencies for the first time. Response times, incident outcomes, resource utilization—all of this becomes comparable when everyone is reporting in the same format.

Challenges Ahead

The transition is historic, but it hasn't been without friction. Several challenges remain:

Onboarding gaps — Not all 27,000 departments transitioned smoothly by the February deadline. Smaller and volunteer departments with limited IT resources face steeper learning curves.
Multi-factor authentication issues — Some users on certain platforms reported that authentication emails arrived after the time limit expired, a known issue the NERIS team has been working to resolve.
Vendor readiness — While major RMS vendors are NERIS-compatible, smaller or legacy software providers may lag behind, forcing some departments into dual data entry.
Data continuity — The gap between NFIRS sunset and full NERIS adoption means some incident data from the transition period may be incomplete at the national level.

These are growing pains, not fundamental flaws. The fire service has navigated major system transitions before, and the long-term benefits of NERIS far outweigh the short-term disruption.

The Bigger Picture

NERIS represents more than a software upgrade. It reflects a broader shift in how the fire service views data—not as a bureaucratic obligation to be checked off after each shift, but as a strategic asset that drives decisions, justifies resources, and ultimately saves lives.

For departments leveraging AI and data analytics, NERIS provides the clean, standardized data foundation that machine learning models require. For departments pursuing grants, NERIS data will increasingly be the basis for demonstrating need. For the public, NERIS means a more transparent, accountable fire service backed by evidence rather than anecdote.

The NFIRS era is over. The NERIS era has begun. The departments that embrace this transition early—investing in training, integrating their systems, and using the analytics tools available to them—will be the ones best positioned to serve their communities in the years ahead.

For more on fire service technology and innovation, explore our articles on firefighting drones and robots and AI in the fire service. If you're exploring a career in fire service data and technology, our career guides cover roles from 911 dispatch to fire chief.

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