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Documenting Firefighter Casualties in an Incident Report (NERIS)

Purpose Statement

The Firefighter Casualty section allows users to accurately document firefighter injuries, fatalities, and exposures within an incident report using the NFIRS model. This helps agencies maintain compliant incident records and capture important data for safety analysis, trend identification, and firefighter health tracking.

Background Information

Firefighter casualty documentation is completed from the People Involved section of an incident report. When a user adds an injured firefighter, the system opens the required EMS and Casualty sections and allows the user to search for personnel from the department roster.

Once a firefighter is selected, information from the firefighter’s personnel record automatically populates into the casualty record. Users can then complete additional personal details, EMS information, injury details, safety equipment information, and NFIRS casualty-specific fields.

Required Permissions

Permission requirements should be confirmed in First Due before publishing this article.

Recommended permission areas to verify:

  1. Incident Reports
    • Ability to view incident reports
    • Ability to edit incident reports
  2. People Involved / Casualties
    • Ability to add or edit involved persons
    • Ability to add or edit casualty information
  3. Personnel Access
    • Ability to search or select personnel records when linking an injured firefighter

Video

Step-by-Step Guide
 

1. Open the Incident Report

  1. Navigate to the incident report that requires firefighter casualty documentation.
  2. Open the report and scroll to the People Involved section.

 

2. Add a New Involved Person

  1. Select Add.
  2. In the popup window, choose Injured Firefighter.
  3. The EMS and Casualty tabs will open, and required fields will become available.

 

3. Search for the Firefighter

  1. Select Search Personnel.
  1. Search or filter the personnel list.
  2. Select the firefighter who needs to be added to the report.

Information from the firefighter’s personnel record will populate automatically. Some fields may appear grayed out because they are linked to the personnel record.
 

4. Review or Update Personal Information

  1. Review the firefighter’s populated information.
  2. If the wrong person was selected, use Unlink to clear the selected personnel record.
  3. Add or update personal information as needed.
  4. Add contact information, such as a home address, if applicable.
  5. Add insurance information, if applicable.


5. Complete the EMS Section

  1. Open the EMS section.
  2. Complete EMS-related fields as needed

The Patient Evaluation Status field is required.

 

6. Complete the Casualty Form

  1. Open the Casualty form.
  2. Complete Casualty-related fields as needed

  3. The Date of Injury field is required.

 

7. Save the Casualty Record

  1. Review the EMS and Casualty information for accuracy.
  2. Select Save.
  3. Confirm the firefighter now appears in the People Involved section as an injured firefighter casualty.

Best Practices

  • Link the injured firefighter to the correct personnel record whenever possible to reduce duplicate data entry.
  • Review auto-populated personnel information before saving the casualty record.
  • Complete all required EMS and Casualty fields before submitting or finalizing the incident report.
  • Use the injury, safety equipment, and protective equipment failure fields to support accurate safety analysis.
  • Document Mayday, RIT activation, and rescue information when applicable.
  • Avoid leaving required NFIRS-related fields incomplete, especially Patient Evaluation Status and Date of Injury.
  • Use clear narrative details to support the structured casualty data.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Why are some firefighter fields grayed out?

Some fields are populated from the linked personnel record. If the wrong firefighter was selected, use Unlink and search for the correct personnel record.

What should I do if I selected the wrong firefighter?

Select Unlink to clear the personnel record, then use Search Personnel to select the correct firefighter.

Why did the EMS and Casualty tabs open automatically?

Selecting Injured Firefighter activates the EMS and Casualty documentation sections and adds the required fields needed for firefighter casualty reporting.

Why is the firefighter listed as Patient 2?

Patient numbering depends on the number of people already added to the incident report. If another casualty or patient already exists, the injured firefighter will receive the next available patient number.

What fields are required?

The transcript specifically identifies Patient Evaluation Status and Date of Injury as required fields. Additional required fields may appear depending on agency configuration and selected values.

When should protective equipment failure be documented?

Document protective equipment failure when equipment failed or contributed to the firefighter’s injury. Include the equipment type, problem, manufacturer, model, and serial number when available.