By Ryan Melin, North Dakota Forest Service
Since 2016, the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) has provided, at no cost to fire departments, a fire reporting tool that meets both the US Fire Administration’s National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) fire reporting requirements.
NDFS originally partnered with Emergency Reporting (ER) to develop a software platform that could submit fire reports to both NFIRS and the national wildfire database system called the Integrated Reporting of Wildfire Information (IRWIN). This reporting tool alleviated the need for fire departments to complete two reports for wildland fires (if you have been around long enough, you remember the postcards – they were not efficient on our end either). Thanks to the fire departments currently utilizing the ER reporting tool, the NDFS has seen a large increase in the number of fire departments reporting wildland fires. The reporting of wildland fires has positively impacted the NDFS’s federal formula-based funding and allowed NDFS to increase the number of Cooperative Fire Protection grants for departments. In the last 3 years, NDFS has awarded 117 grants totaling over 1 million dollars.
As many of you already know, ESO purchased Emergency Reporting. After several meetings and exploring all options, the NDFS decided to continue the fire reporting contract with ESO. NDFS felt that there were several key aspects that were important. The first was data migration; ESO will migrate most of the data your department has in the ER. Although most data will migrate, I am sure there will be some work to do at your end. I apologize for that, but in the end, the reporting tool provided by NDFS/ESO will be a better and safer product. The second key component was since 2018, the North Dakota Department of Health has also partnered with ESO for a reporting tool for ambulance services across ND. NDFS understands many rural fire departments and ambulance services share the same individuals on their roster. NDFS hopes that familiarity with the reporting system will help both emergency service groups. Lastly, ESO has worked closely with the US Fire Administration on reporting compliance with the new National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) platform. The NERIS platform will be replacing the NFIRS platform currently in use. It was important to NDFS that we selected a reporting tool that continued to provide reports to both national databases. Although NDFS has selected ESO, there are many options that may work for your individual department. If your department recognizes a reporting tool that is a better fit, we respectfully ask that your department work with the NDFS to maintain wildland fire reporting continuity. In order to be eligible for NDFS grants and training, your fire department must report wildland fires through the IRWIN system.
With all that said, it is now time for North Dakota Fire Departments that are utilizing the ER system to transition to the new ESO reporting tool. NDFS, along with ESO, asks that all fire department contacts watch for an email from ESO with instructions for password setup and instructions on how to access their ESO account. ESO is currently working through setting up the individual fire department accounts. Once the account is activated, ESO will work with each department to migrate their data from ER and fully transition to the ESO reporting system. Emails for password reset may have been received as early as February 15th. As we transition from the ER system, the NDFS asks that each department remain alert and engaged to assist with the timely transition to the NDFS-provided ESO fire reporting tool.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to NDFS staff Aaron Bucholz at 701-328-9946 or me at 701-516-7289.