In general, of the Total emergency responses, approximately 70-80% are for medical assistance.

The Alameda County Fire Department participates in the NFIRS reporting system. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 authorizes the National Fire Data Center, which is part of the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to gather and analyze information on the magnitude of the nations fire problem, as well as its detailed characteristics and trends. In order to carry out the intentions of the Act, the National Fire Incident Reporting System. (NFIRS) was developed.

NFIRS has two objectives: to help State and local governments develop fire reporting and analysis capability for their own use, and to obtain data that can be used to more accurately assess and subsequently combat the fire problem at a national level. NFIRS is a standardized package that includes incident and casualty forms, and coding structure.

The NFIRS reporting format is based on the National Fire Protection association Standard 901, "Uniform Coding for Fire Protection". The current version of NFIRS, version 5.0, was released in 1999. NFIRS 5.0 expands the collection of data beyond fires to include the full range of fire department activity on a national scale. It is a true all-incident reporting system.

The Department uses the Sunpro Records Management System (RMS) to write all of our incident reports. Sunpro is based on NFIRS and uses the same standard codes. All of our call information is automatically downloaded from the Dispatch Center CAD (computer aided dispatch) to the Sunpro system. Company officers then open the report and complete the narrative and any other information that is required.

On a quarterly basis all of our call information is forwarded to the California State Fire Marshall's office, where the information is validated and then it is sent to the USFA.

The new Incident Response Summary Report has all call data taken from the Sunpro RMS and follows the NFIRS breakdown of call classification. The call breakdown is similar to the previous reports in that it shows fires, medicals, other emergencies and non-emergencies.

The Sunpro RMS is an industry standard and used nationwide. This also allows us to create standard reports for all of our customers we serve.

We feel this response time reporting format is superior to the existing quarterly reports. This format allows increased flexibility with Sunpro RMS as report data is entered and maintained by the ACFD. In addition this reporting format allows the Department to define the causes for deviations from the established response time standards. Previously data kept in the CAD was not easily available to ACFD personnel for analysis and lacked specific detail information. Using this format will allow for better accuracy between quarterly response time reports and reported work load indicators.

INCIDENT TYPE DEFINITIONS

STRUCTURE FIRE: All building fires. Includes residential, commercial and industrial. These are full alarm responses.

OTHER FIRES:Any other type fire. Includes cooking fires confined to container. Vehicle fires, grass and brush fires, outside trash, rubbish or waste material fires.

EMS/RESCUE: All medical responses, vehicle accidents with injuries, assist AMR with patients, motor vehicle versus pedestrian. Any rescue or extrication.

HAZARDOUS CONDITION: Non Fires, Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill. LPG or natural gas leak, oil or other combustible liquid spills. Heat from electrical short circuit, power line down, arcing, or shorted electrical equipment.

SERVICE CALL: Lock-outs, water problems, water or steam leaks. Smoke or odor removal. Animal rescues. Public service assistance, assist Police Department or other government agency. Jewelry problems, lift assists, cover in and standby.

GOOD INTENT: Cancelled in route, wrong location, controlled burn, barbeques, smoke or odor in the area.

FALSE CALL: False alarms, mechanical or malicious. System malfunctions or technician working on the system. Smoke, heat or CO detector accidental trip or mechanical failure.