Fire Department Incident Reporting

NFIRS Closed for Reporting—Use NERIS Starting Jan. 31, 2026

As of January 31, 2026, the NFIRS platform is no longer accessible for new incident entries. All new fire and emergency incident reporting in Maryland must now be submitted through NERIS.

Updated: Monday, February 23, 2026

The Maryland Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS) is supporting the national transition from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) to the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), which will become the primary system for collecting and analyzing all-hazards emergency response data across the United States.

What is NERIS?

The NERIS platform, using data procured, captured, aggregated and analyzed, will provide near real-time information on the overall scope of fire and emergency incidents across the U.S. and timely insights on significant or remarkable fire, hostile and disaster events.

NERIS replaces the older NFIRS, which many departments previously used to submit fire reports.

Key Features of NERIS

Collect and analyze fire and emergency incident data nationwide
Provide near real-time insights into major incidents and trends
captures data on a broader range of incidents, including lithium-ion battery fires, wildland-urban interface events, and extreme weather responses.
Support data-driven decisions at the local, state, and national levels
Supports the use of third-party RMS vendors that are NERIS-compliant and connect to the platform through an API for automatic data transfer.

NERIS will not:

Act as a report management system (RMS)
include any personal identifying information (PII)

This strategic change allows the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to better acco][78rtplish its legislative mandates by concentrating resources on key areas such as data analysis, trend identification, compliance monitoring, and education.

The NERIS platform is being developed through a federal research and development initiative led by the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, in collaboration with:

U.S. Fire Administration
Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate
Fire service partners nationwide

How to use NERIS

Log in
Go to the NERIS system and sign in with your account.
Start a new report
Click “New Incident” to begin.
Enter basic details
Fill in:
1. Date and time
2. Location
3. Type of incident (fire, EMS, etc.)
Add more information
Complete the sections that apply, such as:
1. Units and personnel
2. Actions taken
3. Fire or EMS details
Check for errors
Run the system check and fix anything that’s missing or incorrect.
Submit the report
Click “Submit” when everything is complete.
Make updates if needed
You can go back and fix a report if you have permission.

What is changing in Maryland?

The OSFM began formal onboarding for departments on September 2, 2025. Departments that have not yet completed their transition must contact the OSFM to establish their NERIS Entity Identification (ID) numbers, which are now unique national identifiers.

MFIRS will continue to operate as Maryland’s official fire incident reporting system, however as part of the federal transition, the following will change:

Account creation, data submission, and help desk support will move to the NERIS development team.
The OSFM will shift its focus to:
- Fire loss analysis
- Trend identification
- Compliance monitoring
- Education and prevention efforts

The OSFM remains legally responsible for MFIRS under Maryland law, including oversight of the Senator William H. Amoss Fire, Rescue, and Ambulance Fund.

How to Prepare for the Transition

Review the letter - PDF - 252.88 KB provided by Acting State Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray.
Fill out the requested survey.
Confirm your RMS is ready for NERIS.
Continue to send all NFRIS data to the OSFM until further notice.
Visit NERIS for additional details.

You can also find step-by-step onboarding guides .