NERIS Report Time Calculator
NERIS takes more time per incident than NFIRS. Estimate how many officer-hours your department will spend on NERIS documentation annually based on your incident volume and type mix.
Estimate Your Annual Documentation Burden
Adjust incident volume and select your primary incident type to see rough estimates. These are directional estimates — not precise benchmarks.
Estimated (NFIRS baseline)
160
officer-hours / year
Estimated (NERIS)
360
officer-hours / year
Increase
+200
additional hours / year
Estimates based on average report completion times. Actual times vary by department, officer experience, and incident complexity. These are rough estimates — not benchmarks.
Why NERIS Takes More Time
NERIS requires more fields per incident than NFIRS, introduces fields that NFIRS did not have (detector performance, fire spread codes, EMS module fields), and uses different code sets that officers must learn. During the early adoption period — when officers are still building NERIS familiarity — report completion times are typically longer than they will be once the workflow becomes routine.
What the Estimates Represent
The NFIRS baseline reflects average time to complete a NFIRS incident record for an experienced officer. The NERIS estimate reflects the same incident type under NERIS, accounting for additional fields and the learning curve during early adoption. Actual times vary based on officer experience, incident complexity, and RMS efficiency.
These estimates are rough directional guides. Station Draft is not affiliated with USFA or FSRI and cannot guarantee these figures reflect current research. Do not use these estimates for budget justification without independent verification.
Station Draft Reduces the Per-Incident Time
If those hour estimates concern you, Station Draft addresses the core problem — officer time per incident record.