Purpose Statement

The Fire Incident Wrap-up setup allows administrators to configure narrative entry options and signature requirements for fire incident reports. This feature provides flexible control over how narratives are documented, who can contribute to them, and what requirements must be met before an incident report can be finalized. By properly configuring these settings, departments can ensure consistent documentation practices, maintain accountability, and streamline the incident reporting process while meeting documentation compliance requirements.

Background Information

Fire incident narratives are critical documentation components that capture the story of each response. The Wrap-up configuration determines how your department handles narrative entries at both the unit and department levels.

Key Concepts:

• Unit Narratives: Individual narratives created by specific apparatus/units responding to an incident
• General/Department Narratives: A single narrative field that represents the entire department's response, not tied to a specific unit
• Narrative Restrictions: Controls over who can edit, append, or contribute to narrative entries

Common Use Cases:

• Single-unit responses requiring one comprehensive narrative
• Multi-unit responses where each apparatus documents their specific actions
• Department-level narratives for command staff or incident commanders
• Compliance-driven workflows requiring signatures and officer verification

Prerequisites:

• Administrative access to First Due
• Understanding of your department's narrative documentation policies
• Knowledge of incident reporting requirements for your jurisdiction

Required Permissions

To configure Fire Incident Wrap-up settings, users must have:

• Administrator or System Configuration permissions
• Access to the Incident Documentation module
• Fire Incident Setup configuration rights

Video

Step-by-Step Guide

Access Fire Incident Setup

Navigate to Incident Documentation > Fire Incident Setup from the main menu.

Step 1: Configure Cross-Assignment Narrative Contributions

Select "Do you want to allow users to contribute to Narrative Entry regardless of their assignment?"

• Checking this box: Allows any user to contribute (append or edit) any narrative, even if they were not assigned to that specific unit
• Leaving unchecked: Restricts narrative contributions to only members assigned to that specific unit

Step 2: Enable Individual Unit Narratives

Select "Do you want to turn on individual unit narratives?"

• Checking this box: Each responding unit (Engine, Ladder, Rescue, etc.) can enter their own narrative within the incident report
  
• If Unit narratives have been enabled the user will have the following options:
  
• Option 1: Select the incident types where at least unit narrative is requested 
  
• Option 2: Select the incident types where unit narratives are considered mandatory

Step 3: Enable General Department Narrative Field

Select "Do you want to turn on a general, department narrative field"

• Checking this box: Enables an incident narrative that is not associated with any specific unit
  
• Selecting this option gives the user the following choices:
  
• General narrative is optional - Field will be present but not required
  
• General narrative is mandatory
• Typically used by incident commanders or supervisors to provide an overall incident summary
  

Step 4: Determine whether or not to include notes from your CAD provider into the General Narrative

Step 5: Configure Narrative Editing Restrictions

Select "Restrict users from editing each other's narrative entries" if you wish to prevent users from editing narratives created by other users.

• Checking this box: Users can only edit their own narrative entries but can still append to unit narratives
• Leaving unchecked: Users can edit any narrative entry (subject to other permission settings)
  

Configure Signature Options

Signature Requirement:

• Choose whether to require a signature on each incident report
• Checking this box makes digital signatures mandatory before report finalization
  
• Users will have the option to sign directly on the report or use their save signature to fill in this requirement

Officer in Charge/Member Completing Report Auto-Fill:

• Select the logic where the officer in charge and member completing report fields auto fill. 
  
• Only one of these checkboxes is allowed, both cannot be selected. 
• Streamlines data entry by pre-populating the OIC field based on who is completing the report or vice versa
• Can be overridden if a different officer was actually in charge
  

Best Practices

DO:

• Configure settings based on your department's standard operating procedures
• Enable unit narratives for multi-company responses to capture each unit's perspective
• Use mandatory narrative requirements to ensure complete documentation
• Enable editing restrictions to maintain narrative integrity and accountability
• Require signatures for report compliance and legal documentation purposes

DON'T:

• Make all narratives optional if your department has compliance requirements
• Allow unrestricted editing without considering accountability concerns
• Change settings mid-month if you're tracking completion metrics
• Forget to communicate configuration changes to field personnel

Tips:

• Consider your staffing model when setting cross-assignment contribution permissions
• Use the general department narrative for command staff summary, unit narratives for apparatus-specific actions
• Enable signature requirements to create accountability and meet legal documentation standards

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Q: Users can't see the narrative section in their incident reports. Why?

• A: Verify that you've enabled either unit narratives or the general department narrative in setup. If both are disabled, no narrative fields will appear.

Q: A user can't edit a narrative even though cross-assignment contributions are enabled. What's wrong?

• A: Check if "Restrict users from editing each other's narrative entries" is enabled. This setting takes precedence and prevents editing (but still allows appending).

Q: What's the difference between "append" and "edit" for narratives?

• A: Editing allows users to change existing text in a narrative. Appending only allows adding new content to the end without modifying what's already written.

Q: We enabled mandatory unit narratives, but users are getting errors when finalizing reports. Help?

• A: Ensure that units are properly assigned to the incident. If "All unit narratives are mandatory" is selected, every assigned unit must complete their narrative before finalization.

Q: Can we have both unit narratives and a general department narrative enabled?

• A: Yes! Many departments use both - unit narratives for apparatus-specific documentation and general narratives for incident commander summaries.

Q: The Officer in Charge field isn't auto-filling even though we enabled it. Why?

• A: Verify that the "member completing report" field is populated first. The auto-fill only works when there's data to copy from that field.

Q: What happens to existing incident reports when we change these settings?

• A: Existing reports retain their current narrative structure. New configuration only applies to incidents created after the changes are saved.

Q: Can we require signatures for some reports but not others?

• A: The signature requirement applies to all incident reports once enabled. For selective requirements, you'll need to manage this through your department's workflow policies rather than system configuration.

Related Articles

• Fire Incident Setup - Narrative Template
• Fire Incident List - Statuses and Actions
• Completing an Incident Report - Wrap-Up