A National Strategy: 10 Work Groups Addressing Challenges Facing the U.S. Fire Service

September 10, 2024

By Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell
Reprinted from the 2024 issue of Firefighter Strong

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), created by the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act in 1974. While America’s fire losses today are dramatically improved from 50 years ago, there is still so much work to be done.

I believe that the fire service can make great strides toward tackling these issues if we unite and speak with #FireServiceOneVoice. We took the first step in 2022 when we held the first U.S. Fire Administrator’s Summit on Fire Prevention and Control during the 100th anniversary of Fire Prevention Week. At the summit, fire service leaders came together to establish the Fire Service National Strategy to address the fire-related challenges facing the nation. As a result, six work groups were established to develop comprehensive and actionable solutions focused for these challenges. These are:

  • Impact of Climate Change
  • Recruitment and Retention
  • Firefighter Cancer
  • Mental Health and Well-Being
  • Codes and Standards
  • Whole of Government Approach to Elevate the Fire Service

The work groups met throughout 2022 and 2023, providing their report and recommendations at the 2023 U.S. Fire Administrator’s Summit on Fire Prevention and Control. The recommendations may be found on the USFA web site at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/about/usfa-events/2023-10-10-usfa-summit/.

The 2023 Summit hosted more than 500 attendees on site and consistently had nearly 4,000 online participants, maxing at 7,000 during the day. The summit discussions revealed the need to add the following four topics to the National Strategy.

Electric Vehicles and Energy Transition
Lithium-ion (LI) batteries have become indispensable for our modern needs, but fire risks increase when they are damaged or charged incorrectly. This has become a complex issue for the fire service. The stored energy in a LI battery presents the risk of thermal runaway. Firefighters must consider the risk resulting when the batteries are no longer functioning as intended. Research is needed to better understand the hazards and the means to mitigate them.

Emergency Medical Services
With the number of fires decreasing, fire departments are increasingly dominated with EMS needs. This requires fire departments to champion out-of-hospital EMS and integrate innovative practices to improve overall health, safety, and wellbeing in their local communities. USFA has expanded its work in EMS by adding the EMS Branch to the National Fire and EMS Programs Division.

Data and Technology
In addition to addressing the fire problem, the Fire Service National Strategy is embracing a culture of data and technology. On May 4, 2023, the USFA in collaboration with DHS S&T, contracted with UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) to develop and launch a new interoperable fire information and innovative analytics platform, known as the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS). NERIS will empower the fire and emergency service community by equipping them with an empirical basis for decision-making. It will provide the community with reliable predictive analytics to support enhanced preparedness and response to all-hazard incidents, wildland-urban interface events, community risk reduction efforts, climate change threats and associated resilience and mitigation efforts, and future pandemic emergency response resource preparedness.

NERIS will be tailored to meet the evolving needs of today’s fire and emergency responders. It will have a user-friendly design that will allow data input and retrieval on mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. The revamped data framework will streamline incident reporting, enabling responders to document in less time. Seamless connectivity with trusted third party systems will simplify data management. Turnkey tools, enhanced analysis and dashboard capabilities will make it easier to spot trends and provide mission critical information for your teams. In return, you will have access to near real-time data offering dynamic and timely incident updates that will increase visibility in decision-making.

Six local fire departments have successfully onboarded to NERIS and started reporting local emergency incident information. These departments will inform future developments in preparation of the full production version to release in fall of 2024.

Firefighter Cardiovascular Health
The need to address cardiac health is based in the nature of firefighting and the associated physical stressors on the body. The national strategy recognizes the need to invest in ongoing research to understand cardiovascular risks of fire/EMS personnel and promote evidence-based programs to minimize risks and enhance cardiovascular health. The USFA is happy to announce that Dr. Denise Smith, a lead researcher in firefighter cardiovascular health, has agreed to lead the Cardiac Work Group and she has also accepted the director position to lead USFA’s National Research and Data Division. With Dr. Smith’s leadership, USFA can begin to partner with other academic institutions to conduct research on a scale USFA has never done in the past.

The 10 work groups are working to complete actionable items identified in the 2023 Proceedings report and identify any additional recommendations. The work groups provided a midyear report to the Fire Administrator at the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s annual meeting on April 30. The final report containing action items and recommendations will be delivered to the 2024 U.S. Fire Administrator’s Summit on Fire Prevention and Control on October 8, 2024.

I am grateful for the support of the National Volunteer Fire Council as we stand together with #FireServiceOneVoice. Together we can address the challenges before us and make lasting change for the nation.

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell was appointed by President Joseph Biden as the U.S. Fire Administrator on October 25, 2021. Prior to her appointment, she served nearly three years as the president and CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute, which she founded after retiring from a 26-year tenure as a senior executive in the International Association of Fire Fighters. She began her fire service career in 1987 as a fire department paramedic in the City of Memphis (TN) Fire Department. She is a Doctor of Public Health and data scientist, whose work has changed fire and EMS deployment throughout the world.