NFIRS and run reports

[vonirkinshtine]

Ok my fellow firefighters. I need your help. I'm working on a project and I need as much input on writing reports and NFIRS as I can get. I need to know how other departments take care of report writing and what problems they have with it. So, if you could please answer the following questions:
1. Does your department submit to NFIRS?

1a. If so, how? Do you use 3rd party software (if so, which one), or do you use NFIRS web tools?​

2. Does your reporting process still require transferring information from a paper form to a computer?
3. Is there any part of your reporting that is automated (certain things are filled in by the CAD terminal)?
4. Do the people who enter reports find the process to be tedious/time consuming/inconvenient?

 

[tuckerm]

1. We use Firehouse.
2. Yes
3. No
4. I'm sure.

 

[JazzDad]

1. Yes
2. Yes, from paper
3. Our dispatch system is one step up from telegraphy
4. Extremely. Almost worth purchasing some 3rd party's software.

 

[vonirkinshtine]

4. Extremely. Almost worth purchasing some 3rd party's software.

How about paying someone else to do it?

 

[jph2]

3. Our dispatch system is one step up from telegraphy

Gotta really like that new-fangled state-of-the-art RAD* system! A JDI exclusive, no doubt.

*radio-assisted dispatch

PS: Sorry for helping hijack the thread but I couldn't resist.

 

[EastSide279]

1. Yes we do submit NFIRS using the Firehouse software.
2. No. Our dispatch center has a website link that we can logon to to view the call report and times which we enter into the firehouse program.
3. We have the option to link our firehouse program to our dispatch center cad to have the times and location automatically filled in but we currently do not use that feature. I do all the NFIRS reporting and find it is easier for me to just type that info in myself rather than getting the two programs to link up.
4. At times I do feel it can be tedious, especially if I don't keep up on entering them in and let them pile up. I guess it all depends on how many calls your department runs and how much info you include in the reports. We do a very basic report. I definatly would rather be doing something else than entering calls into the computer, but it is tolerable. I can enter a basic medical first responder run in less than 5 minutes.

 

[JazzDad]

How about paying someone else to do it?

It would have to be cheap. We don't run many calls per year, and some of the other products we have looked into are just not cost-effective. (If they charged per upload, that might work for us. But the high monthly costs, along will all the extras we would not use - that's why we still do it manually.)

 

[vonirkinshtine]

I guess it all depends on how many calls your department runs and how much info you include in the reports.

We don't run many calls per year, and some of the other products we have looked into are just not cost-effective.

Jazz, EastSide, how many calls per year do your departments run?

 

[EastSide279]

Jazz, EastSide, how many calls per year do your departments run?

We do between 250 and 300 per year.