Fire Incident Analytics Dashboard

Purpose Statement

The Fire Incident Analytics Dashboard in Advanced Data Insights provides a comprehensive, data-driven view of fire-related incidents, focusing on incident volume, response performance, and overall impact.

This dashboard helps agencies evaluate fire activity, understand operational demand, and support planning, prevention, and reporting efforts through clear visualizations and summarized metrics.

Background Information

The Fire Incident Analytics Dashboard is part of the Advanced Data Insights suite and is designed to transform fire incident data into actionable insights through interactive and visual reporting tools.

It focuses specifically on fire-related incidents, allowing departments to analyze trends in incident types, geographic distribution, response times, and impact metrics such as property loss and injuries.

This dashboard is best used for high-level operational awareness, planning, and reporting rather than individual incident investigation.

Users can analyze:

• Fire incident volume and trends
• Geographic distribution of incidents
• Response time performance
• Property and contents loss
• Injury data and operational impact

Important:
Advanced Data Insights dashboards are part of a paid upgrade package and may not be available to all agencies. If this dashboard is not visible, contact your Client Success Manager.

Prerequisites:

• Access to Advanced Data Insights
• Fire incidents properly classified within incident documentation
• Complete and accurate reporting of loss, injury, and timestamp data

Required Permissions

Users must have appropriate permissions to access dashboards and fire incident data.

Typical permissions include:

• Advanced Data Insights access
• Dashboard view permissions
• Incident documentation access

Recommended roles:

• Administrators
• Chiefs
• Fire prevention personnel
• Training and planning staff
• Analysts and data managers

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Go to the First Due logo.
2. Access the module stack.
3. Select the Dashboard module.
4. Select either Dashboards or Dashboard List.
5. Select the Fire Incident Analytics Dashboard from the drop-down list.

Dashboard Features & Highlights

Filter Options

Users can refine dashboard data using:

• Alarm Datetime (date range)
• Incident Subgroup
• Incident Type
• Additional available attributes

All charts, maps, and tables update dynamically based on selected filters.

KPI Summary Cards

Quickly view high-level metrics such as:

• Total fire incidents
• Property and contents loss
• Acres burned
• Time to First Arrival performance (average and P90)

These provide a snapshot of overall fire activity and impact.

Map Visualization

• Displays fire incident locations across the response area
• Helps identify geographic concentrations and high-risk areas
• Allows comparison of fire types across locations

Charts and Trend Analysis

• Fire Incidents Over Time: Analyze trends by month, quarter, or year
• Hour of Day Analysis: Identify peak periods for fire activity
• 90th Percentile Time on Incident: Compare duration across fire subgroups
• Trend Line Charts: Monitor long-term changes in fire activity

These visualizations support seasonal analysis, workload planning, and operational insights.

Fire Severity Metrics Tab

• Provides additional insight into fire spread, contributing factors, and overall incident severity
• Evaluates how often fires are:
  • Confined to the room or area of origin
  • Extending beyond the area or floor of origin (more severe incidents)
• Includes metrics such as:
  • Percentage of incidents with working smoke alarms
  • Detector activation rates
  • Percentage of severe fires
• Analyzes relationships between fire spread and:
  • Cause of ignition
  • Area of origin
  • First item ignited
• Uses visualizations (including flow-style charts) to show how fire characteristics influence outcomes

This tab complements the main dashboard by focusing on incident impact and outcomes, supporting prevention, investigation, and community risk reduction efforts.

Summary Tables

Analyze aggregated data across:

• Incident subgroup and type
• Fire zones
• Property types

Tables include metrics such as incident count, percentage of total, and loss values, with options to expand for more detailed breakdowns.

Fire Incident Details Table

• Provides one row per fire incident, including:
  • Incident number
  • Incident type and classification
  • Shift
  • Key timestamps (alarm, dispatch, arrival)
  • Injury and loss indicators

This table is intended for reference and validation rather than deep performance analysis.

Key Metrics Definitions

• Total Fires: Total number of fire incidents in the selected period
• Property Loss: Estimated dollar value of structural damage
• Contents Loss: Estimated value of contents damage
• Acres Burned: Total acreage impacted by fires
• Avg Time to First Arrival: Average time for first unit arrival
• P90 Time to First Arrival: Time within which 90% of first-arriving units reach the scene
• Firefighter and Civilian Injuries: Total reported injuries associated with incidents

Best Practices

• Ensure fire incidents are accurately classified for reliable analysis
• Regularly review loss and injury data for reporting accuracy
• Use consistent date ranges when comparing trends
• Combine geographic and property-type insights for prevention planning
• Use time-based analysis to inform staffing and deployment decisions

Avoid:

• Using this dashboard for detailed incident-level investigation
• Drawing conclusions without verifying applied filters
• Relying on incomplete or missing loss and injury data

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Why are fire incidents not appearing in the dashboard?
Verify incidents are correctly classified as fire-related and that filters include the appropriate date range and categories.

Why are loss values missing or inaccurate?
Loss data depends on proper documentation in incident reports. Missing entries will result in incomplete totals.

What does P90 Time to First Arrival mean?
It represents the time within which 90% of first-arriving units reach the scene, providing a realistic performance benchmark.

Can I identify high-risk areas?
Yes. Use the map and fire zone tables to identify geographic areas with higher incident frequency or impact.

Who should use this dashboard?
Fire leadership, prevention staff, planning teams, and analysts focused on fire activity and operational impact.

Use Case Examples

• Analyze fire incident trends for annual or accreditation reporting
• Identify property types with higher fire risk for inspection planning
• Evaluate response performance for fire-related incidents
• Support community risk reduction and prevention strategies