The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is a powerful reporting tool if used to its potential. As Ron pointed out NFIRS falls under the USFA. The current (NFIRS 5.0) basic codes (data collection fields) for fire suppression systems includes;
a) Automatic Extinguishment System Codes - Operation of Automatic Extinguishing System; 0-Operation Other, 1 System operated and was effective, 2 System operated and was not effective, 3 Fire too small to activate system, 4 System did not operate and U Undetermined, b) Automatic Extinguishment System Codes - Reason for Automatic Extinguishing System Failure, 0-Other, 1 System shut off, 2 Not enough agent discharged to control fire, 3 Agent discharged but did not reach fire, 4 Inappropriate system for type of fire, 5 Fire not in area protected by system, 6 System components damaged, 7 Lack of maintenance including corrosion/heads painted, 8 Manual intervention defeated system, U Undetermined. This data can be queried thru the USFA; [NFIRS > Date= mm/dd/yyyy-mm/dd/yyyy> FDID=ALL> Structure Fire Report Codes > Automatic Extinguishment System Codes> Operation of Automatic Extinguishing System = 0,1,2,3,4] [NFIRS > Date= mm/dd/yyyy-mm/dd/yyyy> FDID=ALL> Structure Fire Report Codes > Automatic Extinguishment System Codes> Reason for Automatic Extinguishing System Failure = 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,U] The report can be detailed or summary. Lastly if those codes are insufficient there is another simplier way of collecting the data for all incidents not just those involving the structure fire module. NFIRS and most if not all of the 3rd party vendor software, i.e. ACS FireHouse, contains the ability to conduct a "special study". For example in NJ we are conducting three special studies statewide; Codes 6000 Thermal Imaging Camera Usage, 6100 Smoke Alarm Performance, 7000 Automated External Defibrillator Usage. Special Studies are assigned by the NFIRS agency, coded uniformly and field entered into the NFIRS Special Studies Codes Lookup Table. So for example a Special Study could be created if more in depth quantification of an issue is desired then is provided in the NFIRS Structure Fire Report Codes. I serve as the NFIRS Coordinator for an 11 Station, 500 staff, 41 square mile fire department.We fully automated in year 2004 and to date have 8,213 incident records in our automated system which has been used to provide statistical data to municipal, county, state, and federal governments in the form of annual reports, AFG grant applications, special studies and our states unified compilation report "Fire In New Jersey" which is available on line at; http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/dfs/publications/ . In the lower right hand corner of the screen select Fire In New Jersey and the desired year from 2001 to 2009. The format is PDF. Hope this helps, John Drucker NFIRS Coordinator FDID 13310 Middletown Township Fire Dept Middletown Township, NJ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thom Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 4:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: statistics: failure analysis: BFV: NFIRS: reality ;-) Scott: I was not saying that the Fire Dept. wasn't good at evaluating sprinkler systems! What we were talking about is that ambiguous Number 1/16,000,000 or 1/250,000 for the accidental failure rate of fire sprinklers. This is an extrapolation or cognitive estimate at best, since we don't even know how many fire sprinkler heads are installed each year, how can we develop a reasonable percentage that fail? Accidental failure of a sprinkler head in a large Gym. FDP responds to the alarm. Arrives on site, no fire! Turns off the water, and maybe even helps clear out the water all over the wood gym floor. Who's looking for that link or bulb or seal from that sprinkler head? (Right! No ONE!) It will most likely be swept out the door or down the nearest drain. While the head frame may show signs of the cause of the accidental failure, it very well may not. I can tell you from actual experience that even when sent off to a lab of the brand's MFG. the evidence may very well prove "Inconclusive" 6 months later. What I meant to say in the original post was that no fire dept has the money time or training (or for that matter the need) to replicate the labs used by the sprinkler head MFG to determine the cause of an accidental discharge. Origins of FIRE's ?? Yeah they are really good at that. Manual Suppression?? Yeah that too. Fire prevention?? Some more than others. What caused this particular sprinkler head to accidentally discharge in a non fire situation? Maybe not so much. NO fire departments out there qualified to evaluate sprinkler systems. That statement, while perhaps true in its attempt to brush a particular hue across an enormous canvas, does not encompass the many exceptional, remarkable and outstanding individual departments that excel at: sprinklers, fire prevention, cause and origin, in addition to good old fashioned manual suppression. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
