Where is Fire Incident Data Coming From? NFIRS
The NFIRS is a reporting standard that fire departments use to uniformly report on the full range of their activities, from fire to emergency medical services (EMS) to equipment involved in the response.
Anyone analyzing the NFIRS data should note that NFIRS is neither a random sample nor a census of fire incidents or casualties in the United States. As such, the analyst may not accurately make estimates of total fires, fire losses, or fire casualties in the United States from NFIRS data alone. Similarly, statistical means (averages) or standard error measurements taken from NFIRS describe the population of fire incidents related to fire departments that participate in NFIRS but do not describe the population of fire incidents in the Nation as a whole. However, the proportion of fire incidents reported to NFIRS is large enough that reasonable inferences can be made that the proportions of fires in NFIRS are similar to the true national measurements.