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 U. S. Fire Administration’s National Fire data Center. PennFIRS also has the potential for reviewing and analyzing Pennsylvania’s fire situation.

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 the National Fire Incident Reporting System to carry out the intentions of the Act.

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 for NFIRS 5.0 software. This means that a very robust basic fire reporting package is available to every fire department in Pennsylvania at no cost to the department. Firehouse Software is the software supplier. Note: While the original software is provided at no cost to individual fire departments, it is up to the individual departments to contract for software maintenance.

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.

Data Collection Sites
As a practical matter, 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.

Berks County Firehouse Software Support
The Berks County Department of Emergency Services is able to provide limited support with the Firehouse Software platform in addition to technical support in uploading the department files to the county collection site.  For more information on the necessary settings to upload your data, please contact the Berks County Department of Emergency Services at (610) 374-4800 Ext. 8211.

Berks County Data Files
The Berks County Department of Emergency Services publishes an updated report monthly on the number of incidents that have been collected at the County.  Click on any of the links below for additional information.

2003 Annual Statistics
2004 Annual Statistics
2005 Annual Statistics
2006 Annual Statistics
2007 Annual Statistics
2008 Annual Statistics
2009 Annual Statistics
2010 Annual Statistics
2011 Annual Statistics
2012 Annual Statistics