The backbone of any National Fire Incident Reporting System report is the Incident Type. With 176 choices it can be overwhelming to get started. Use this short presentation to help in your search for not only the correct code, but data quality.

1. 176 Incident Types
for a little bit of
EVERYTHING
Kansas
Fire
Incident
Reporting
System

2. The Incident Type defines the entire report and controls
which modules are open for completion. An accurate
Fire Incident Report starts with choosing correctly.
In ci dent Type
/noun

3. Start by concentrating on the call you worked. How the
call was dispatched doesn't always reflect the on-scene
reality and should not be reported as the Incident Type.
START

4. Incident Types are three digits long and
organized into 9 categories. Using a cheat
sheet organized into those categories will
help quickly reduce Incident Types you
don't need.
Click here for the Kansas cheat sheet

5. Fire
Hazard Service Call Good Intent
Weather Special
Explosion Rescue & EMS
False Alarm
100's 200's 300's
400's 500's 600's
700's 800's 900's

6. The Fire Service wears many hats, often at the same
scene. For calls where multiple Incident Types apply, use
the lower number.
For example, a car wreck (322-324) that also includes
a car fire (130's) would be reported under the car fire
(130's) because 130 is less than 322.

7. STOP
If you are canceled en-route and do not make the scene,
no matter what kind of call was dispatched you would
only use one Incident Type:
611-Dispatched and Canceled En Route

8. If the call involved a fire, determine if the fire was
"hostile" or controlled. All hostile fires will have an
Incident Type that starts with a "1".
Controlled burns are reported using the following:
631-Authorized Controlled Burning
632-Prescribed Fire (written plan on file)
561-Unauthorized Burning

9. You may think it's a shortcut to use "Other" Incident
Types like 100-Other Fire or 900-Other Special Call
because you'll be asked to complete less fields. While it
may take you less time to complete the report, you have
decreased both its accuracy and its worth.
AVOID

10. Plus-1 codes add a fourth letter or number to the Incident Type and
you can program them into your NFIRS software. For example, 611-1:
Canceled En-Route to a Fire, 611-2: Canceled En-Route to EMS Call.
You now have more specific codes allowing you further
categorization.
The NFIRS system isn't thrown by Plus-1 codes, allowing you
to record a more specific code locally while not receiving any
errors from the NFIRS system.
Using Codes
PLUS-1

11. Exposures
Exposure fires do not always have the same Incident Type. If the
original fire is a house (Incident Type 111-Building) that spreads to
the grass field out back (143-Grass Fire), when you're working on
the exposure report make sure the Incident Type matches that
exposure.
In some software packages, the "Add Exposure" button will
bring the Incident Type from the original fire.

12. Follow these simple guidelines for choosing an
Incident Type and you are well on your way to
putting data quality issues to pasture.