Step-by-Step Guide for Transitioning Existing Customers from NFIRS to NERIS

Step-by-Step Guide for Transitioning Existing Customers from NFIRS to NERIS

Transitioning Existing Customers from NFIRS to NERIS in First Due
Purpose Statement

This article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help your department successfully transition from NFIRS to NERIS for fire incident reporting within First Due. It outlines the process, requirements, and considerations to ensure accurate reporting and compliance with the U.S. Fire Administration’s 2026 mandate.

This guide is intended for First Due customers who are already live and actively using NFIRS incident reporting in their production environment and are looking to transition to NERIS.  If you are currently working with our Implementation Team, please reach out to your Implementation Manager or Incident Reporting Product Specialist to discuss your interest in transitioning to NERIS. They’ll help ensure the process aligns with your current implementation timeline with consideration of your state's NERIS rollout plan.


Background Information
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is transitioning all departments from NFIRS to NERIS by January 2026. Each state will have its own rollout schedule throughout 2025. First Due is fully prepared to support this transition, and departments must follow specific onboarding and configuration steps to ensure a seamless switch and continued compliance.

For the full regional rollout schedule, refer to the official NERIS Rollout Schedule [link].

Important Notes:

  • Early Adoption Restrictions: Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon do not allow early adoption before their regional rollout.

  • State-Specific Delays: Colorado and Pennsylvania will begin NERIS reporting after January 1, 2026 only.

  • Non-Participating States: Departments in North Carolina, Ohio, and Wyoming will remain on NFIRS unless state guidance changes.


Step-by-Step Guide


Step 1: Review NERIS Regional Rollout and State Timelines and Guidance

May - New York and New Jersey

June - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee

July – Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

August – Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska

September – Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia

October – Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington

November – Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah

December – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin

After 1/1/2026 (based on State’s requirements) – Colorado, Pennsylvania



Important Guidance
NotesIf you’d like to begin reporting in NERIS before your region’s official go-live date, contact your state advisor, fire marshal, or division of fire safety for permission. 
NotesThe following states will NOT allow early NERIS adoption ahead of the Regional Rollout: Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon 
NotesColorado and Pennsylvania departments: Reporting to NERIS will officially begin after January 1, 2026. Be aware your states will not accept NERIS data prior to 1/1/2026
AlertIf your department is in North Carolina, Ohio, or Wyoming, please note that these states have indicated they will not be participating in NERIS data collection at this time. As a result, your department will remain on NFIRS unless otherwise directed by your State. For clarification or updates, we recommend reaching out directly to your State Fire Program Manager or appropriate state contact. 

Step 2: PLAN AND COMPLETE: Considerations Before Requesting the Transition


NotesNote:  As soon as NERIS is activated in your system, any reports that are not in the Authorized incident status will be converted to NERIS incidents and can be finished as needed. We recommend providing your staff with advanced notice of the change occurring for full transparency.


2A. Request TEST site access to NERIS to review and familiarize

Submit a request to Support to gain access to the TEST (monthly) site to review NERIS in a non-production environment.
  1. Suggested ticket title: ‘Requesting TEST Site access to NERIS’
    1. TEST is an exact replica of your Production account, updated on the 1st of every month. When NERIS is activated in TEST, it will remain active until the next 1st. If you need extended access, you may submit a new request.
    2. Any NERIS settings, Field Customizations, or Workflows created in TEST ​must be manually recreated in your Production environment after go-live.

2B. Review and Authorize all past incomplete NFIRS incidents in your NFIRS production environment that are in:

  1. Not Started
  2. Incomplete
  3. Pending Authorization
  4. If your department has 25 or more incidents in Not Started, Incomplete or Pending Authorization status, prioritize the completion and authorization of incidents prior to making the switch. This ensures all reports are submitted to NFIRS properly before your state’s official NERIS transition date.

InfoTip: Create an Incident List View in First Due to identify reports within the last 180 days (or more) that remain in any of the above statuses.


2C. Associate Apparatus with Stations

To meet NERIS requirements for the demographic payload, each department-owned apparatus must be associated with a station. Before switching to NERIS, ensure all apparatus are properly configured by navigating to :
  1. Admin or Assets > Apparatus List.
    1. In the list view, confirm that the Station field has a documented value for each apparatus.
    2. If the field is blank, click Edit on the apparatus record, update the Station field, and click Save.
      1. For more guidance, reference this article: Apparatus List: Editing an Apparatus

Step 3: REGISTER with NERIS:

 3a. NERIS Enrollment/ Credentialing Email

Your department will receive an onboarding email from either:
  • Your State Fire Program Manager, or
  • NERIS (FEMA/USFA)
This email will be sent to the individual currently registered as your department’s NFIRS Administrator with your state or FEMA.
  • The email includes:
    • A registration link to create your NERIS account
    • A unique Department Onboarding Code
    • Instructions for setting up your department profile, designating administrators, and adding users
Tip: This email may be filtered to spam or junk folders. Ask your IT team to whitelist FEMA/USFA domains to ensure successful delivery.

3b.  Creating Your Department NERIS Account

  1. Follow these steps once you receive your onboarding email:
    1. Click the registration link and follow prompts.
    2. Create a department admin user account.
    3. Enter your Department Onboarding Code from the email.
    4. Fill in department profile details (address, type, contacts).
    5. Set up roles for additional users (admin, report writers, etc.).
    6. NERIS General User Quick Start Video: https://vimeo.com/1063358251

3c. Linking First Due to NERIS

  1. To submit incident reports from First Due to NERIS, you must connect the systems using a Client ID.
    1. Client ID for First Due: 4dc47291-f9bb-4e4b-950c-9fe32100cd87

  2. To link your RMS:
    1. Log in to your NERIS portal.
    2. Go to Third-Party Integrations or API Access. (See attached Document)
    3. Enter the First Due Client ID above.
    4. Authorize data submission from First Due.


Step 4 SUBMIT YOUR REQUEST: Submit a Support Request to Switch to NERIS in First Due

WarningWARNING: The switch in Production to NERIS is a permanent change that cannot be undone; therefore, we’ve taken the necessary steps to prepare.
  1. To switch your Fire Incident Reporting module from NFIRS to NERIS, you must submit a support ticket via one of the following methods:
    1. In-App Support Ticket: Use the support icon in First Due and select "Submit a Ticket" Submit a Support Ticket
    2. Support Knowledge Base: Navigate to Support > Knowledge Base within First Due and log into Support with your credentials https://support.firstduesizeup.com/portal/en/signin
    3. Email: Send a request directly to our support team support@firstduesizeup.zohodesk.com
  1. How to Submit Your Transition Request
    1. Submit a support ticket with the following subject line:  [Name of Fire Department] Requesting Official Production Transition to NERIS
    1. In the body of your ticket, copy and paste the waiver statement provided below and fill in the required fields.

This Statement MUST be entered into your Support Ticket

I, [YOUR FULL NAME], am submitting this request as the [FIRE CHIEF / AUTHORIZED DEPARTMENT LEADER] of [NAME OF DEPARTMENT] [NERIS ENTITY ID#]. Our team has reviewed the considerations and steps to transition to NERIS and is ready to officially schedule our transition to NERIS in our production environment. I confirm that I have the authority to make this request, and that our department leadership is fully aware of and agrees with this move.
      I understand and acknowledge the following:
             - The switch in Production to NERIS is a permanent change that cannot be undone; therefore, we’ve taken the necessary steps to prepare.
             - If any issues come up after the transition, we’ll report them promptly in a support ticket so they can be addressed quickly.
             - Our department has been enrolled with NERIS 
             - Our department has set up First Due as our vendor using the provided Client ID #: 4dc47291-f9bb-4e4b-950c-9fe32100cd87
             - This request to transition to NERIS falls within our state’s predetermined rollout plan for NERIS transition, or with special state approval. 
    1. The request must be submitted by the Department Fire Chief or another authorized department leader with authority to make system-level decisions.
    2. Our support team will assign your department the next available transition window (during business hours 8am-5pm, Monday through Thursday) and provide sufficient advance notice
    3. By submitting your request, you are confirming that your department is fully prepared and ready for the NERIS transition at the time of submission.
    4. Include the Required Transition Statement (below) in the body of your support ticket:
    5. Once the switch is live in your production environment, support will send notification via the support ticket.

Step 5: REFINE: Post-Transition Configuration: Field Customizations & Workflows

Once your system is live in NERIS, department administrators should review and update configuration settings within Fire Incident Setup > Custom Field Management and Workflows to ensure proper documentation standards are met.

InfoImportant: Field Customizations and Hide, Default, and Error Validation Workflows built for NFIRS will not carry over to NERIS, as this is a new data standard. This means all necessary workflows must be rebuilt within NERIS after the transition.

We recommend:
  • Reviewing/ creating a sample NERIS incident immediately after the switch to identify additional fields to require via Error Validation, we recommend deleting the incident after use.
  • Build any critical Hide, Default, or Error Validation workflows in the NERIS environment.
  • Using Custom Field Management to ensure fields important to your department are clearly labeled.

Allow adequate time after the switch to assess your needs and implement new configurations.
  1. To help streamline this process, we will provide recommended workflows and screenshots to reduce the guesswork and ease the transition.  
IdeaFor Help in setting up Workflows, please see the Workflows Section in the Knowledge Base: Workflows - What are they and how do I set them up?

Step 6: REPORT: Creating and Submitting Reports to NERIS

Once your department is connected to NERIS, you’ll begin documenting and submitting incident reports directly from First Due. The following steps outline the process from incident creation through submission.

Step 6a: Create Incident Reports: Incidents can be created in one of two ways:

  1. Automatically via your CAD integration feed, or
  2. Manually by clicking the +Add New button within the Incidents module.
    1. The incident creation and documentation workflow in NERIS follows the same structure as NFIRS. While some field labels or section names may differ slightly, the overall process remains consistent and familiar for users who have previously worked in NFIRS.
NotesNOTE: Important Note About the PSAP Call Answered Date/Time Field.  The PSAP Call Answered Date/Time field is a new requirement under NERIS that was not part of the previous NFIRS standard.  As a result, your current CAD connection and parser will not automatically populate this field until CAD parser updates are completed. Until then, this field must be manually entered within your incident reports.  This is a temporary requirement while we work to enhance CAD parser integrations to support this new data point.
  1. Requests for parser updates will be added to an internal processing queue and handled in the order received.
  2. Timelines are currently unavailable, as the complexity of CAD systems can vary significantly.
Two possible scenarios:
  1. Your CAD already captures this field: If so, we will notify you once your parser has been updated and the field is included in your parsed data.
  2. Your CAD does not capture this field: If this data point is unavailable through your CAD system and your agency prefers to use an alternative timestamp, we will contact you to discuss available options.

Step 6b: Mark the Report as Authorized:

Once your Incident Report is complete:
  1. Mark the report as "Authorized" in First Due.
  2. This step triggers automatic submission of the report to NERIS.
  3. No manual file uploads or exports are required once this setup is complete.

Step 7: CONFIRM: NERIS Submission Status

You can monitor the submission status of each incident report directly within First Due:
Navigate to: Fire Incident Setup > NERIS
                      This section will display your department’s submission activity and any related status indicators for each report.


"We appreciate your patience as we work through these updates. Our team is committed to ensuring a smooth and successful transition."

Best Practices

  • Use TEST to experiment with NERIS without affecting real data.

  • Communicate timelines and expectations to all personnel ahead of transition.

  • Rebuild and validate custom workflows immediately after go-live.

  • Review your NERIS Export for any possible failures or issues.

    • Please submit a support ticket right away if any failures or issues are found.

FAQs

Q: Can I go back to NFIRS after switching to NERIS?
A: No. Once switched, the transition is permanent within First Due.

Q: How can I access NERIS onboarding support?
A: Contact your State Program Manager or FEMA/USFA. 

Q: What if my department is in a state not participating in NERIS?
A: You will remain on NFIRS unless your state provides updated guidance.

Q: How will this affect my analytical reports

Training Materials and Help Resources

NERIS Official Resources:

First Due Resources:

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