National Fire Incident Reporting System Data

The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) which serves as a uniform reporting standard and repository of data from fire department responses to a variety of incidents across the U.S. 

The NFIRS database contains approximately 75 percent of all reported fires (and fire department responses) that occur annually in the United States. After responding to an incident, a fire department representative completes the appropriate NFIRS data entry modules based on the nature of the emergency. Each module collects a common set of information that describes the nature of the emergency, the actions taken in response to the emergency, and resulting outcomes.

REM has utilized the 1999-2018 NFIRS databases to identify Fire Department calls with incident types 424 (Carbon monoxide incident) occurring at properties with use types:

• 449: Commercial Hotel or Motels
• 161: Restaurant or Cafeteria
• 131: Church/ Place of Worship
• 162: Bar/Tavern or Nightclub
• 213: Elementary, Kindergarten
• 215: Highschool, Junior High

This data has not yet been verified independent of the NFIRS system. R.E.M has published its research on this topic specific to the 449 property type. The article, Analyzing the National Fire Incident Reporting System to Identify Carbon Monoxide Incidents in the U.S. Lodging Industry is open source and available for download.

The following map depicts Carbon Monoxide Incidents occurring across 6 different occupancy types between 1999 and 2018. A summary of the incidents shown in the map below can be downloaded here. Additional information specific to Carbon Monoxide incidents in hotels can be found here.