Cal Fire adopts NERIS, replacing 40-year-old incident reporting system

(FOX40.COM) — The Office of the State Fire Marshall announced that fire departments across California are beginning the transition to the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) on Wednesday.
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According to Cal Fire, NERIS is a cloud-based platform built to modernize how emergency incidents are reported and analyzed.

Departments across the country are also onboarding to NERIS as part of a phased national rollout led by the U.S. Fire Administration, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate and the Fire Safety Research Institute, which is part of Underwriters Laboratory Research Institutes.

The system it is replacing, the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS), is 40 years old.

“Modernizing emergency data collection is a critical step toward strengthening public safety,” said Chief Daniel Berlant, California State Marshal. “By utilizing NERIS, we are giving our departments better tools to protect our communities, manage resources effectively, and make informed decisions backed by current data.”

Cal Fire OSFM encourages all departments to complete onboarding as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition. NFIRS will be decommissioned at the start of 2026.